


The Prisoner

by Angrysouffle



Category: Supernatural
Genre: A love Story, Abusive Foster Parent (Alastair), Background Character Death, Bondage, Bottom Cas, Bottom Dean, Cadreel, Dark fic, Destiel - Freeform, Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con, Incest, Kidnapping, M/M, Masturbation, Murder Mystery, Obsession, Penetration, Plot Twists, Restraints, Temporary Character Death, Top Cas, Top Dean, Top Gadreel, Victorian poetry, serial killer au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-23
Updated: 2016-05-23
Packaged: 2018-06-10 00:09:11
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 4
Words: 30,400
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6929977
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Angrysouffle/pseuds/Angrysouffle
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>For 10 years, Sam and Dean Winchester have worked tirelessly to free their friend Gadreel from death row.  The man who picks up Gadreel from the prison gates is a stranger.  Castiel is enigmatic, engaged and unaccountably interested in Gadreel.  When Castiel's fiance Balthazar gets cold feet, it is Gadreel who steps up to fulfill Castiel's unique needs.  So why does everyone seem to think that Castiel and Dean belong together?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Soul

**Author's Note:**

  * For [castielsstarr](https://archiveofourown.org/users/castielsstarr/gifts).



> Fic: Angrysouffle http://angrysouffle.tumblr.com  
> Art: Castielsstarr Http://castielsstarr.tumblr.com  
> Challenge: Rarepair Big Bang
> 
> Thanks to my artist Castielsstarr for the beautiful art and a very enjoyable collab. 
> 
> Thanks to Bloodandcream for the draft beta and general encouragement to sign up and then to write the rarepairs I so rarely have the courage to do. All mistakes my own.
> 
> WARNING: Apart from the Castiel/Gadreel main pairing, this story is really about two other pairings that are portrayed in a fairly dark manner. One of those pairings inovolves referenced non-con. Please refer to end notes for full warning (don't want to spoil the murder plot).

Gadreel stood outside of the prison in which he had been incarcerated for ten years. He was looking up at the sky. So many times he had fervently wished to see beyond the high walls, past the square of cornflower blue. Now that he was seeing it, after all that waiting, he realised it was exactly the same from this vantage point. Except more. So wide and expansive that the nakedness of the atmosphere bore down on him and made him press his spine into the wall of the prison in retreat.

The man who came out of the flash car waiting on the kerb wasn't Dean.  Wasn't the childhood friend Gadreel had placed his faith in for over decade.  Dean who had stood by him, along with his brother Sam, through the arrest, remand, trial, sentencing, imprisonment and the last 12 months on death row.  If not for the Winchesters, Gadreel would have still been a dead man walking.  Then suddenly, as if by magic (though in reality it was Sam's hard work) new evidence was found and Gadreel was acquitted.  It had been so long since Gadreel had seen Dean in the flesh that for a moment he struggled to discern whether the man walking towards him was Dean, darkish hair, broad shoulders, face so ridiculously perfect even from a distance.  Gadreel still remembered the first time he saw the Winchesters, he was a few year older than them and an adolescent.  Even back then, he felt touched by their beauty, in a non-sexual aesthetically appreciative manner.  It was like seeing the desert in a sun shower, can't help but experience something verging on religiosity sort of physical beauty.   The way you feel when you see an eagle or a wolf, deadly gorgeous. 

Not many of the other young people in town wanted to hangout with the Winchesters.  They were orphans living with eccentric old Bobby Singer in a junk yard on the outskirts of town.  They had lost their parents from a fire but the strange rumour swirling, in that horror story trope way, was that they had killed their parents somehow.  The alleged motive, to inherit that 1967 Impala.  It was malicious lies of course, spread by the young men who saw all the women in town giving the Winchesters a second glance.  All the girls in the schools spoke of nothing but Dean and Sam.  Attendance for bible camp, the only extra curricular the Winchesters took, swelled.

Then to Gadreel's surprise it was Sam who walked up to him and his sisters and introduced himself.  Gadreel remembered that Sam had the most changeable innocent eyes.  They were soft grey, like an overcast ocean, and his thin lips quirked into a shy smile when he said "Hi, do you wanna share cabin with us?  The camp says we gotta have three guys minimum."

Ruby had pinched the back of Gadreel's arm so hard that he gasped a pained "Yes, certainly" right there and then.  While Meg snorted through her nose and rolled her eyes.  Gadreel still remembered the disappointment Ruby showed when Dean and Sam politely but firmly refused her request to "spend some quality time with my foster bro and his two new besties".  Turned out Sam and Dean were more interested in archery practice in the woods and a sort of ruleless wrestling fighting game they played constantly.  Having been fostered in various places, Gadreel understood the pack mentality of the Winchesters, the way they seemed to be training themselves for dirty fighting, for survival.  Gadreel had done exactly the same thing, but he had to accomplish it on his own.  He had his unique advantages of course.  He was already 6 foot 5, muscled and strong.  The Winchesters didn't care that Gadreel hardly ever spoke or his lack of social graces.  They let him be and he in turn gave them time to be alone together in their private Winchester world, where hunting knives and disarming holds were more interesting than girls.   Gadreel protected them from ridicule because he was in his own quiet athletic way popular.  So everyone thought the two stray young supposed psychopaths must be okay because they hung out with the reliable silent Gadreel whom they had known all their lives.  The irony was not lost on Gadreel that a decade or so later he was the ex-murderer whilst Sam was a criminal law attorney and Dean ran a hatted restaurant in the touristy part of Maine.

Gadreel tried to shake off those memories.  He wasn't sitting in a cell with nothing but confused recollection and scraps of Dean and Sam's faces to entertain himself.  He had to live in the present now, because that's what he was once more, alive.  Even if it didn't feel any different.  So Gadreel focused on the man walking towards him, the man who was not Dean.

This man was attractive in a completely different way.  A little shorter than Dean, more tanned, his face was hawklike, sharp eyes and chiselled jaw.  Gadreel blinked when the well dressed man advanced on him, eyes squinting up and down his body, a frown between dark haughty eyebrows.  

"You are taller than I expected," he said, extending a hand. Stiff white buttoned up sleeves, expensively elegant cufflinks, posh accent. "Castiel Collins, of Collins Milton Krushnic, I'm Sam's managing partner."

Gadreel shook the hand offered on automatic. This was Sam's boss? Gadreel smiled tentatively. "I had thought Sam's firm was in Boston?"

"It is," Castiel nodded. His eyes were really blue. Sky blue, in fact. Gadreel wondered if Castiel's face seemed so eye-catching because it had been so long since he had seen a new face or if it was because Castiel was extremely unconventionally handsome.  He suspected the latter was more correct.

Gadreel started when he heard Castiel say: "I do need my hand for driving."

He looked amused when Gadreel pulled his hand away in a hurry.

Gadreel didn't have anything apart from a little plastic bag with a wallet full of expired cards and keys that didn't open any doors anymore. He dumped the pitifully light bag into the trunk of Castiel's Lexus. Then he hesitated, unsure what to do next. Gadreel stuffed his hands into his hoodie pockets, lowering his gaze to the ground. He heard Castiel walk around him, the click of the car door, then looked up and was surprised by the gentlemanly manner in which Castiel held the passenger side door open for him. Head slightly tilted, the corners of his mouth quirked up. Castiel was confident and that self-assuredness was very easy to trust. That smile look a little angelic, Gadreel hadn't witnessed anything so beautiful in all his years.

Gadreel sunk into the leather interiors, stretching his long legs out with a sigh. Castiel drove onto the highway and the signs pointed to the next county over. Gadreel sat there for about half an hour, not asking any questions, not saying anything. Just staring out the electric windows at the landscape. The cornfields of Texas weren't drastically changed but passing through the more industrialised areas showed Gadreel the years he had missed. When Castiel's car started ringing Gadreel jumped. The voice that filled the interiors was familiar.

"Hey Cas, how's your passenger?"

"The convict is mid-transportation," Castiel said blithely, turning his head slightly toward Gadreel with a quick mollifying wink. It was strange to see someone so still and comfortable with silence come to life all of a sudden.

Castiel could tell immediately that Castiel liked Dean very much. 

"Hey Zeke, nice to have you with us," Dean's voice was warm and friendly. It was a familiar voice because once a week for ten long years, Dean called Gadreel every weekend taking up 50% of his allocated phone time. The other half was of course Sam Winchester. Sam's calls were just as pleasant as Dean's but he was less personal in his inquiries. Sam was also extremely busy with his new job over the last 12 months, what with graduating top of his year and being recruited by Collins Milton Novak. "You good buddy?"

"Yes, thank you," Gadreel answered, smiling shyly.

"Zeke?" Castiel asked. "The Serpent Slaughterer has a nickname?"

The mention of the moniker made the conversation die in its tracks. Although, Gadreel knew that on the oustide he could expect that label to haunt him forever. Castiel's observation was astute, .nly Dean ever called him Zeke. It was a little embarrassing having Castiel hear the term of endearment Dean had used since they were young. Gadreel dipped his eyes and looked at his hands.

A hand touched him on the shoulder, making him almost jump out of his skin, although outwardly his body held still. Prison taught you not to show any weakness and if there was one thing Gadreel excelled at, the only thing, it was survival. Gadreel looked at it, the touch was brief but warm before Castiel returned his hand to the gear stick. Though Castiel's words were blunt, his remark felt honest and non-malicious. Gadreel smiled back faintly.

Dean cleared his throat and started talking again.

"So here's the plan, Zeke. I'm so sorry I wasn't there to pick you up myself but the restaurant took on a last minute wedding booking and Benny and Kevin will have my head if I'm not around doing my dues. Cas is going to drive you all the way back to Boston, what a guy right? Sam and I will meet you there. And Cas, thanks, Sam and I owe you big time. And by the way I'm looking forward to seeing Sam's hot boss again."

"Naomi is not Sam's line manager, I am," Castiel drawled.

"That's who I meant buddy," Dean said flirtatiously and that got a soft huff of a laugh out of Castiel.

"So why do you call Gadreel Zeke?" Castiel brought the conversation back around, looking at Gadreel with interest.

"Bible camp thing," Dean laughed, changing the topic. Gadreel sighed with relief.  That was a whole other messy part of his past that he didn't quite feel ready to get into.  "You don't wanna know. Hey Cas tell me how good Gadreel looks after all those years, he was always the best looking out of the three of us."

"He is very handsome indeed," Castiel said smoothly. "Though I dare say you and Sam could hold your own against him."

Gadreel felt his whole face catch fire all of a sudden. His muscles tensed, a compliment like that on the inside was fraught with implications but here he wasn't sure. Was Castiel bantering or expressing interest or just being polite?

"Tell me," Dean's voice deepened. "Is he all muscles? I keep asking him to email me a photo but he didn't want to."

"I don't think it would be in Gadreel's best interests to send you any images of himself from jail," Castiel said smoothly. "Imagine if the press gets a hold of something like that.  Or the Serpent Slaughterer fans."

Gadreel sunk lower into his seat. "It's not like that.  I don't get much fanmail."

Dean seemed to pick up on Gadreel's discomfort.

"Yeah well, I was just kidding, Zeke. You enjoy your road trip with my childhood best bud, Cas. And get here in one piece, you hear me?"

"Yes, Dean," Castiel said. "You know me, always ready to chauffeur the Winchesters' friends across the states in my vacation time that I could be spending with my boyfriend."

"Tell me you are not still seeing that snooty French dude," Dean complained.

"He's English and I don't even know what's happening with Balthazar. All I know is he was a no show for our weekend away and then he sends me this text about having to do work. I know for a fact his firm is shut and his PA hasn't even seen him."

"Hey at least it freed you up to help out your best bud," Dean said cheerfully. "Balthazar will come grovelling back, you know your ass is too hot for him to resist."

Gadreel shifted uncomfortably. He thought he was detecting flirtation between Dean and Castiel. And to hear Dean call Castiel his best friend, that stung a little. It was petty but once upon a time, Dean Winchester was almost exclusively Gadreel's friend.  The the three of them had been extremely close, too close as the police prosecutor had alleged during Gadreel's trial. 

A noise like a muffled yelp in the background of the call interrupted Gadreel's train of thought. Dean sighed. "I need to get back to work, sounds like Kevin is having trouble with the shellfish, again. Don't want anyone to get hurt, so I'll check in with you guys tomorrow, after the hotel."

Castiel said his goodbye and kept driving, leaving Gadreel to wonder what the night's sleeping arrangements and how earth he was going to be able to afford to pay for a share of a hotel room.

They drove for the whole day, stopping briefly for lunch. Castiel took off his smart trench coat and walked around the garden cafe's grounds for about twenty minutes to stretch out his legs. Gadreel sat on the veranda of the little chic restaurant and drank tea while watching Castiel's handsome figure pace up and down the flowering lawn. He felt absolutely disconnected to the comfort and aesthetic pleasure of the scene, like he had maybe fallen asleep on his bare bunk and all of this was a dream. An American dream of prosperity and upper middle class comforts.  It was strange, watching Castiel buying a bagful of organic coffee beans and toting it around in a elegantly embossed paper bag and thinking about the starkness of where he had just been. 

At about 9 pm, Castiel pulled up into the drive way of a Nashville hotel. The driveway was all lit up and lined with trees. A valet in a uniform came and got the keys, promising to take the vehicle for a wash and polish over night. Gadreel had noticed the methodical, almost pedantic manner in which Castiel did everything. He had driven in three hour blocks with appropriate rest breaks in between. They had all the main meals and afternoon coffee. Filled up every 500 miles and Castiel checked the tyre pressure and water at their last stop. All those little routines carved up their trip into manageable little pieces.  Castiel was so organised and controlled that his company was less stressful to endure than Gadreel had expected.

As it was 8pm which Castiel announced was their scheduled dinner break, they went straight into the restaurant where the greeter blinked at Gadreel's outdated jeans and hoodie but smiled at elegantly dressed Castiel fawningly.

Castiel placed his arm around Gadreel's waist as they were led to their beautifully set table for two. 

"Ignore him," Castiel whispered into Gadreel's ear.  "He thinks you are my Pretty Woman."

Gadreel blinked.  "He thinks I'm a sex worker?" 

"Or a sex-app hook up," Castiel winked.  "I gotta update you on those."

They were shown to a private table with a reserved sign, of course Castiel had already booked their place. Vaguely, Gadreel hoped he had even ordered their food. One less choice was one less burden for his first day out.

Gadreel let Castiel pull out his chair for him and pour him a glass of sparkling Porsecco before sitting down himself.  Castiel relaxed into his high backed chair, his face clean and soberingly beautiful in the candlelight. He ordered red wine sauce for his steak and Gadreel chose water and the same porterhouse cut. The food tasted wonderful and Castiel had ordered sides for them. A bowl of truffle mashed potatoes, arugula salad with roma cheese flakes and balsamic dressing and to finish lemon souffles that smelled like summer. By the time Gadreel had finished his meal he realised he had consumed twice as much of the sides as Castiel. He blushed at the way Castiel smiled at him behind the rim of his crystal Champagne flute. Castiel had actually loosened his tie a little, rolled up his sleeves and he was more stunningly attractive than anyone Gadreel had ever met. Even including the Winchesters. Although what Dean looked like now days was a bit of a mystery, at least Sam he saw plenty of via skype when he needed information from Gadreel for the retrial. And Sam was very good looking but Castiel just had this otherworldly glow about him.

Right now, Castiel was looking at Gadreel with a faint smile. He dabbed at his mouth with the thick white cotton napkin and cleared his throat. Castiel's voice was deep and seductive when he said "So for tonight's hotel stay, I have a proposition for you."

Gadreel's head snapped up. "I cannot afford to stay here, I can take your car and park it somewhere and sleep in there if you are willing to trust me with your motorvehicle."

"Money is not the issue," Castiel stirred in his chair, clearing his throat. Was it Gadreel's imagination or was Castiel blushing faintly. "I have a medical condition which requires somewhat unorthodox sleeping arrangements. And I was wondering if you might kindly consider assisting me with said condition, tonight. Usually I just ask my boyfriends but obviously Balthazar has failed to make our rendezvous. However, do not feel obliged once I have outlined the requirements to you. I do have on hold for you a single bedroom if you find my proposition in any way unsavoury."

Gadreel took a deep breath.  "Why don't you show me these arrangements and I can decide for myself?"

They went up to the hotel room, Castiel silent and increasingly agitated as the lift ascended. The accommodation Castiel had booked was a penthouse with views over the city. It was decorated in luxurious grey textures and Gadreel didn't think he had seen such a nice suite in his whole modest life.

His eyes quickly took in the leather and glass reception room furnishings, the glowing bathroom and the balcony. He could barely register all the beautiful lighting and tasteful decor before Castiel led him into the bedroom. Gadreel tensed when he saw the state of the bed.

"I must remember to leave an extra tip, they did very well," Castiel inspected the card left on the bed outlining the requests he had made.

The bed had four simple tapered posts shooting up into the ceiling with no canopy. Around each post a length of nylon rope was looped. The harsh orange neon of the ropes contrasting starkly with the understated grandeur of the bed and its expensive linen. A pair of handcuffs had been neatly laid out on one pillow, with a complimentary chocolate on top.

Gadreel's whole body tensed, his hands bunching into fists as he drew in a breath.

"What is this?" He asked a little too loudly.

"Provisions for my comfort," Castiel snapped, his voice defensive.

"I will not be bound, I have had enough of incarceration," Gadreel bit out. "I will go, sleep beneath the stars under an open sky. I will make my own way to Boston."

Castiel frowned. "What? Oh..."

He took two quick steps into Gadreel's personal space. Castiel's immense presence pinned Gadreel to his spot, even though reason told Gadreel to get away from him. Castiel placed both hands on Gadreel's shoulders, his palms were furnace hot even through the layers Gadreel wore.

"You poor man, did you think I was going to tie you down after what you just went through? What kind of insensitive dick did you take me for? This is for me, this is what I need. I know it's sick."

Gadreel was lost in the cadence of Castiel's words, in the heat of his hands, in the look of anger and vulnerability in Castiel's eyes.

"You want this?"

"I need this."

Castiel lowered his head, his groomed hair flopping forward, a little messy, a lot endearing. He didn't quite want to meet Gadreel's eyes.

"So I'm going to go shower and if you are still here I'll take it you are fine with tying me up for the night. If you are not okay with it, just go to the front desk downstairs, they'll have a room key for you if you tell them your name. I can get you a cab to the airport and you can fly to Boston. In case you are wondering, I don't fly either. Well, not without some heavy duty bondage anyway and you know airline staff find that a little weird."

Sitting on the foot of the bed, whilst Castiel showered, Gadreel ran through his options. If Castiel was tied up like a turkey on Christmas day, he really was no threat. Lying next to him while he slept would be strangely intimate but Gadreel was used to a lack of privacy and personal space, wasn't he? As for the option of the single room and flight, well, that sounded expensive and he already owed Castiel so much. Gadreel didn't like owing anyone anything and this request from Castiel, odd as it was, was not anything beyond what Gadreel could freely give him. Something in his gut told Gadreel he could trust Castiel, as fascinatingly neurotic as he was. He laid his head down on the free pillow, blinking at the sight of the handcuffs and chocolates. He was nudged awake in what felt like seconds.

The sight of Castiel standing in one of those plush white hotel robes, hair damp and tendrils of steam clinging to his skin, took Gadreel's breath away. He'd known nothing but exile and survival for so long that the sight of Castiel took root inside Gadreel like a seed of hope. In that moment, Gadreel thought that he would happily die if someone as beautiful and desirable as Castiel could be his. Not that this was attainment of Castiel's affections. This was just helping someone out.

"You stayed," Castiel said softly. "Thank you, Gadreel."

"Show me what you need, Castiel. I consent to assist you."

What Castiel desired was to feel secure. With a faint "I need to be naked for this" Castiel shrugged out of his robe.

Gadreel's face caught on fire at the sight of so much creamy caramel skin, he tried not to look down. Castiel, thankfully, turned around so that his cock was hidden from view. Yet that only exposed the splendour of his buttocks and Gadreel began silently praying in his head by way of a distraction. Not that he still had any faith left in him, except perhaps faith in the Winchesters. The prayer did little to help him because Castiel pushed his shoulders back and clasped his hands behind his back. Then he waited patiently. With suddenly clumsy fingers, Gadreel looped the ropes around his shoulders and biceps, leaving long ends draped down Castiel's back.

When Gadreel kneeled down to bind Castiel's ankles he could not help but notice the dark heavy cock hanging between Castiel's legs. Castiel wasn't quite erect, but he was somewhat swollen and extended from the heat of the shower. Castiel was well endowed, his sex organs looked robust and tantalising. Gadreel tore his eyes away and focused on tying the knots around Castiel's ankles, his game hunting experience kicking in after so many years.

"Hmm, I like how you tie that knot, it's very elegant," Castiel spoke as if a connosour of such things, which Gadreel supposed he might well be.

When Gadreel pushed Castiel onto the bed, rolling him into position so that the remaining rope could be trussed up to the bed posts, Castiel let out a long relieved sigh.   Following Castiel's instructions, Gadreel strung the ropes from his shoulders onto the bedposts. The ropes flared out like wings behind Castiel's back.

"I'm so tired, this feels really safe, I think I'll sleep well tonight."

Gadreel was silent.

"Please, the cuffs."

Twisting a little, so that his back and buttocks were exposed, Castiel silently begged Gadreel to bind his hands behind his back.

Castiel actually closed his eyes when he felt the cold click of the handcuffs locking into place, his whole body slumped and relaxed into the mattress.

Gadreel turned off the lights and climbed into the bed fully clothed.

"Are you cold, Castiel?"

"Yes but not the covers, please, there wasn't any bedding there."

"Would you like to talk?"

"Not at the moment, too tired, too comfortable, have to drive tomorrow."

Gadreel gave in to the urge of running his hand through Castiel's hair. "That is alright, sleep."

Gadreel pressed his body against Castiel's and felt the sigh that vibrated through Castiel's bare back and ass and legs. Castiel was asleep within seconds, a final 'thank you' still echoing in the immensely sized bedroom. Gadreel surprised himself by falling asleep too.

* * *

The sun was shining through the huge window with city views. They had forgotten to close the curtains. Gadreel startled awake at the feel of a warm body snuggled into his embrace. At first he thought he was having a lucid dream, he had so many in the long years in incarceration when boredom and repetition took over. Yet, Castiel was real, solid and sweating slightly, his snoring tapering away as Gadreel let go of him. Suddenly, Castiel began to jerk violently, thrashing his head back, his bound legs kicking together but the knots Gadreel had tied held true.

"Kill me or let me go!" Castiel shouted even as his eyes snapped open.

"You okay?" Gadreel asked carefully.  People woke up in all manner of distress in prison, he could deal with this for Castiel.

Castiel blinked rapidly and his gasping breath slowed down as he took in Gadreel's face.

"Oh, did I struggle? I'm sorry, sometimes I do that when I just wake up." 

Gadreel felt a stab of pity.

"Can I release you now?"

"Yes, I think there's a knife in the fruit bowl."

Gadreel returned with the knife after a moment and cleanly sliced through the ropes. Then he sat looking at his lap while Castiel got up, massaging his wrists and ankles.

"I think I might take this with me," Castiel jingled the handcuffs. "This is a nice pair, momentum of our first night together."

Gadreel gave Castiel a long look.  Then it was as if a puzzle was falling into place, Castiel's outward confidence was a mask for his vulnerability.  Gadreel could understand that.  Here was a man, outwardly free, who had to chain himself up at night to feel safe.  He deserved Gadreel's care and in whatever manner he could, Gadreel wanted to protect Castiel.

Scratching through his sleep mussed hair, Castiel chuckled when he found the chocolate still stuck to the side of his head.

"Sorry I went to slumber heaven.  You are a blessed angel whose power is to grant us sinful mortals sleep."

"That's not the angel I've been called in the past,"  Gadreel murmured.  He remembered the tabloid headlines from when he was on trial.  Angel of Death.  Angel of Destruction. Serpent Slaughterer.  The last, unlikely moniker, had stuck.   It was refreshing to be called another angel.  Felt like a new start. 

Gadreel watched Castiel stuff the little chocolate into his mouth, crunching down when he reached the nut. He was completely disinhibited, body still crisscrossed with pink marks from the rope and gloriously naked. It was a painfully sexy sight if Gadreel was to be honest with himself.

"Do you want to shower? Since you didn't really get a chance to last night. I'm sorry I fell asleep on you so quickly but I have to say, it was the best sleep I've had in years. "

Gadreel nodded, not showing how moved he was by that sentiment as he stood up to go to the bathroom. When he was done Castiel was already fully dressed in a fresh suit, he was just in the middle of putting his Burberry coat back on when Gadreel inched into the bedroom.  The towels were too small for Gadreel's tall frame, he used about three to try and keep himself covered up.  Castiel didn't look at him overtly but he did appear a little flustered as he gestured towards a laundry bag laid out on the bed.

"There's some fresh clothes for you.  I'll leave you to it."

When Castiel left the bedroom, Gadreel ventured forward and pulled down the zipper on the laundry bag. Inside was thankfully not a suit. Clean dark navy jeans, a black henley, suede bomber jacket with a high collar and a baseball cap. There was even a packet of new underwear and socks. Gadreel pulled the clothes on, the materials felt luxurious on his freshly scrubbed skin. 

"Abby did a nice job shopping for you," Castiel's eyes ran up and down Gadreel's body. "You're in great shape. Those pants are criminal on you."

Gadreel saw the tiny smirk on the corner of Castiel's lips and realised suddenly that he was being teased. 

"You are not afraid of hurting my feelings?"  Gadreel stated. "That I might be sensitive to any reminder of my time in incarceration?"

"I like to address the elephant in the room," Castiel grinned confidently.  "Control it and ride it if I can.  You seem the stoic type, I'm just chipping away at that piece by piece.  Maybe I'll like what I find underneath."

The way Castiel was looking at him, head tilted, like he was truly worth studying made Gadreel flush.  Gadreel did not disclose that he secretly liked how Castiel didn't watch his mouth around him. Not like the way Sam always chose his words carefully. The only other person who didn't care about protecting Gadreel's feelings about the whole jail thing was Dean but that was because Gadreel had a lot of history with Dean. They were beyond polite facades. Castiel just seemed to intuit when Gadreel needed him to cut through the crap.

The look Castiel was giving him now was full of appraisal. 

"So you made it through the night without asking me to tell you why I need to be tied up to sleep, I am very impressed."

"You are not afraid of being tied up in bed by a convicted serial killer, I admire your courage, if not your foolhardiness," Gadreel shrugged. "I didn't think any questions were necessary or would be answered."

"A killer and a fool.  Well aren't we just made for each other," Castiel placed a hand on Gadreel's elbow, easing away his discomfort with a friendly touch. "Oh please, you've seen me full frontal now and I've seen your case files so we are even."

Gadreel stood stiff and still as Castiel advanced on him, all his vulnerability from the night before gone, his commanding posture and confidence in full swing.

"We know each other," Castiel said slowly, lifting his chin to stare into Gadreel's eyes. "I've seen you and you me."

The errant thought that he wanted to kiss the bold smile off Castiel's face terrified Gadreel. After what felt like an eternity Castiel spoke again, taking a step back and just like that Gadreel could breathe again.

"Well, interesting. Seems you're not the kind of person who takes what they want consequences be damned."

The possibility that Castiel had offered himself up to Gadreel, trussed and bound, when there was still a shadow of a doubt as to Gadreel's innocence disturbed him.  Though Gadreel's pulse quickened at the suggestion that maybe Castiel was interested in something more last night. 

For a moment, Gadreel wanted to remind Castiel that eventual acquittal or no, he did kill and in his heart of hearts did not regret the killings. He was dangerous and it was not a good idea to get too close. 

Looking at Castiel's focused and determined glance, Gadreel doubted Castiel cared about that.

* * *

They arrived in Boston late at night. Castiel had made numerous attempts to reach Balthazar during the day's drive. Every call he made reached a dead end and he was cursing by the fifth time Balthazar's assistant Gabriel explained that he couldn't reach the man at all. Castiel brooded then looked at Gadreel with pleading in his eyes.

 

"Can we go to my house? I think my boyfriend's frozen me out. Sometimes I wonder what am I even doing with Balthazar, this isn't the first time he dropped off the radar. Last time I found him in Paris."

"Is Balthazar typically unreliable?"

"No, just when he gets into one of his moods. He stresses out about stuff and just drops everything and runs off on a bender."

"He is dependent on alcohol or substances?"

"No, he doesn't use, he beings on humanitarian work. He's a corporate lawyer, really higher echelon kind of stuff, and he gets these crises of conscience and disappears. Last time I found him in Paris doing a preparatory Medicines Sans Frontiers course on international aid work. Only Gabriel was able to talk him out of it, told him he'd be able to donate whatever he earned on the urgent case he dropped back home to pay for 100 volunteers."

"Oh, that is, generous."

"He's a dick but a loveable one. He knows very well that I can't sleep without him ... I don't want to call an escort. I still consider myself in a relationship, even if I can't even reach him. Ever feel like the people supposedly closest to you aren't really there at all?"

Gadreel blinked.

"For instance, you just need to talk to someone to get an idea of what they are feeling, you know?"

Gadreel squirmed a little on the inside. He didn't know. He never quite knew how emotions worked for other people, there was something broken about him in that regard. Maybe that was why sinking his hunting knife into the softness of flesh and the hardness of bone never really bothered him.

They arrived at Castiel's house. A grand penthouse in the heart of the city. They were due to meet the Winchesters at Castiel's law firm the next morning. Castiel didn't show Gadreel to a guest room. After showering, Gadreel went straight into Castiel's bedroom, tied him up and held him till dawn.

Neither of them mentioned it in the morning.

* * *

Collins Milton Krushnic was the premier criminal defence law firm in Boston. It's client list comprised of the most high profile defendants and Gadreel was arguably the most famous of them all. News of Gadreel's release was a big deal and entering the premises of the law firm was fraught with logistics issues. It was decided that Castiel would be picked up by the firm chauffeur as per his usual schedule and act as decoy. While Castiel's assistant would help with transitioning Gadreel into the firm's office. The assistant's name was Abbadon, a stunning red head armed with a smartphone and a quick wit. She drove Castiel to the office in peak hour traffic in her red mustang. Showy as anything but since she wasn't on the presss' radar and she had dressed Gadreel in smart casual they looked like a vacationing Hollywood couple rather than an ex-con on the run from journalists.

The firm took up three top floors at a prestigous downtown address. It was still early, not even 7 am. The level Gadreel was taken to housed the principal attorneys, none of whom had arrived apart from Castiel. A few paralegals were already at their desks. A young woman flagged down Abbadon as she walked through the office with Gadreel.

"Hey Abs, I cleaned up your desktop, please no more gay porn at work your CPU is at the top of HR's hit list for employee code violation."

"Tell them Castiel's browsing on my computer," Abaddon smirked, handing a small paper bag to Charlie. "Or I don't know maybe the firm's prettiest tech support person could be corrupted into doing a deal?"

Charlie opened the package and inhaled deeply. "Fresh bagels, your bribery is acceptable."

"Oh shame, I was going to use my sexual prowess," Abbadon winked over her shoulder.

Gadreel had never seen anyone go as red in the face as their hair like that before.

Castiel's office took up the eastern corner and was the largest. It was decorated in shades of dark neutrals, with a touch of old world feel. The sort of set up to impress a well off client and instil confidence. Castiel was not looking calm and collected when Gadreel entered the room though. There was a young man sitting on a leather sofa, glossy hair tied into a pony tail, sharp suit. He had his feet up on the glass coffee table and was helping himself to one of the candies from a black and silver box.

"You have got to put nicer sweets in here, even I don't like licorice."

"Is he avoiding me, Gabriel? What did I do?"

"Hey, how would I know, he's your boyfriend. The two of you are very difficult to be around. One minute its proposal at the peak of Mount Everest and event manage our ridiculous work schedules and the most tasteful wedding in Boston come Spring. The next it's 'I can't find my fiance so you must be hiding him'."

Castiel bit his lips, his gaze growing introspective.

"How many years have we known each other, Cassie?" Gabriel sighed. "How many years have you and Balthazar been dancing around each other? To be honest I never even thought you two would ever get together, he's been chasing after you for so many years and I always thought that you had a thing for Dean ..."

Castiel's eyes snapped up and bore into Gabriel. "Watch your mouth."

"Just calling it how I see it," Gabriel muttered darkly. "You know how much Balthazar resents it when you do the Winchesters' bidding. You drove half way across the country to play courier to a violent sexual offender."

"He's been proven innocent!" Castiel stood up. "Beyond the shadow of a reasonable doubt."

Gadreel lowered his head, trying to disappear into the patch of wall where he stood.

"And he's right here."

Gabriel's eyes widened when Castiel pointed Gadreel out. He looked at Gadreel was some interest. "Quite the looker, does give you that creepy killer presence vibe that's kinda hot."

"Gabe, you are so gross," Abaddon said.

"I'm sorry I'm being a jerk. I'm in a bad mood okay.   I'm actually really worried about Balthazar. I honestly have not heard from him. I've come to ask you for the keys to his apartment. I want to go in there and look for any clues as to where he's gone."

Castiel sighed, taking out a black piece of plastic from his wallet. "Here's a security pass to his apartment, don't look in his playroom."

Gabriel rolled his eyes and began to leave. Brushing past Gadreel, he took a peek under the baseball cap and whistled. "Those cheekbones are even more lethal in person."

Gadreel quailed at the baited statement and Castiel shot Gabriel a death glare.  After the door shut behind Gabriel, Castiel turned to Gadreel.

"His heart is in the right place, he's very loyal to Balthazar and Sam thinks Gabriel is a great guy, they hang out a fair bit. Gabriel's just in a mood because well he wasn't very happy about Balthazar and I getting together at last. Our engagement was a bit of shock for everyone."

"I did not know you were betrothed."

"Does it matter?" Castiel asked, eyebrow lifted challengingly.

Gadreel pulled himself up to his full height and answered as confidently as he could manage. "Of course not, we are not romantically involved. Your marital status is of no consequence."

"That's right, we are not romantically involved," Castiel echoed. Abaddon looked between them and arched an eyebrow.

Castiel and Gadreel looked at each other and fell into silence until a knock at the door interrupted the awkward moment. A stunning woman in her mid-thirties walked in. She had shoulder-length dark hair and wide blue eyes. Her suit was well cut but conservative, the nod she gave Gadreel as she entered was business like.

"Hannah, thank you for coming," Castiel rose up to greet her with a kiss on the cheek.

"How was your trip to Texas?"

"More pleasant than I expected though Balthazar didn't show."

Hannah just nodded as if she wasn't surprised. She didn't comment on the personal information. Gadreel liked her instantly, she was discreet and professional.

"May I introduce you to Gadreel Edlund, Sam Winchester's client," Castiel said formally. "Hannah is an Associate of our firm specialising in Family Law."

"It is nice to meet you Mr Edlund."

Hannah's hand shake was cool and firm, her eyes critical. "I will offer you what assistance I can."

"Gadreel is in need of civil legal advice, nothing to do with his appeal and exoneration. I had planned to act as his legal advisor at Sam's request in his personal financial matters, however, I have struck up a friendship with Gadreel such that I fear there would be perceived conflict of interest if I was to advise him."

Hannah gave a soft "Hm." She looked at Gadreel again, this time he felt her visually assess him again.

"Are you two sexually involved?" She asked as if resigned for Castiel to answer in the affirmative.

A quiet "I'm not sure" and a loud "No" sounded at the same time. Castiel glared at Gadreel.

"He's privy to my personal quirks. And being somewhat backward in sexual experience, Gadreel may be under the misapprehension that we are involved, somewhat, in something," Castiel explained ironically, raising an eyebrow at Gadreel. "Believe me, if you and I were truly sexually involved you would not be allowed outside of my quarters for a month."

Gadreel swallowed and said nothing.

"Right," Hannah looked at the ceiling and turned to Gadreel. "I have been emailed with a list of salient matters to discuss with you, if you would like to retain me."

"I ... I don't have any money." Gadreel blundered.

"To the contrary," Hannah smiled. "May I take Mr Edlund to my office?"

Castiel waved them away, starting to speed dial on his desk phone. Gadreel heard the start of Balthazar's voicemail again.

Hannah proved very efficient, in just under half an hour she briefed Gadreel on his finances. It would seem that the deaths of his foster fathers Alastair and Fergus Crowley had left him a sizeable estate. That sum was held in trust for the beneficiaries of the men's will, of which there were three recipients. One in chief and having interest before the other two, the remainder had life interests. Gadreel was the primary beneficiary. The beneficiaries were not to be aware of each other's identity.

"I'll give you this, it is a very strange will," Hannah folded her hands and regarded Gadreel. "When you were convicted of the murder of your family, you were in line as first beneficiary. However, as the estate was the proceeds of a crime, by law it was defaulted to the two other recipients to be held in trust until they came of age."

"That means with me in the picture the other two get nothing but if I am not they get everything?"

"Looks and brains," Hannah gave him a small grin. "Yes, if you weren't to benefit, then the other two will get equal shares. They would be very comfortable."

Gadreel looked down at his lap. "Meg and Ruby are dead."

"I can neither deny or confirm whether your foster sisters were the secondary beneficiaries, I am bound by client confidentiality."

"I don't want any of it," Gadreel clenched his fists. "I killed the Crowleys, I don't want their money."

"In self-defence," Hannah said. "You were provoked outrageously. I like to think that I am a person of reason and not passion but in your shoes I would have done the same."

Gadreel stood up. "I can't argue against a lawyer but as far as I can see you'll need me to sign things to take the money. I'm not signing anything."

"You don't have a home or a job, this estate is worth far more than you can imagine, they are numbers that would impress someone even in Castiel's league. It would make you one of the wealthiest men in Texas. Imagine the good you could do with those sorts of funds."

That gave Gadreel pause. "Can I give it away?"

"If you sign for it, certainly," Hannah smiled. "And if that is so against your principles, there is another way. You could set up a trust for a charity or a person and gift the trust's assets to them in your will. When you are deceased the money will be made available to the trust. It would never pass through your hands, technically speaking."

"That is an option which interests me," Gadreel sat down again. There were two people who came to mind straight away. "I want to give the money to Sam and Dean Winchester."

Hannah looked up in shock. "The Winchester brothers?"

"They saved my life and they are orphans just like me," Gadreel said with certainty. "I want to help them in anyway possible."

"Perhaps you would like to sleep on your decision," Hannah said, finally composing herself.

"I'll sign the papers this afternoon, if that is logistically possible?" Gadreel asked politely but firmly.

"It is possible," Hannah said. "Why the hurry?"

"I don't plan to hang around," Gadreel confided in her. "I'm going to meet up with Sam and Dean today, do the press stuff Sam and Castiel wanted me to do, then I'll be on my way."

"Where to?" Hannah asked.

"Anywhere but here."

* * *

Within a mere half an hour, Gadreel had signed off on his will. Abbadon was waiting for him outside Hannah's office when he was done. She had yet another laundry bag over her shoulder and hustled him into Castiel's private bathroom to get changed. He emerged in a business suit that was perfectly sized, she even had hair products ready.

"You will meet all the partners of the firm in the conference room. There'll be about half an hour for you to mingle. Then the press will be allowed in, just a few handpicked journalists who will be able to ask you questions and write an article. You will not be personally issuing a public statement, Sam will take care of that as your attorney. Just smile and shake hands like a good boy, they'll lap you up."

She grinned at him, hands smoothing over his lapels. "Don't let those animals eat you alive, you're worth more than them."

Gadreel looked at Abbadon in puzzlement. "The journalists or the lawyers?"

"You decide," she said elusively. "But I'll give you this one for free, never trust a lawyer."

* * *

The lawyers turned in sync as Gadreel entered the room. They were clustered around one end of the room, silence fell when Abbadon pushed open the double doors. There was about twenty people, most of them middle aged and distinguished looking with that alert intelligence that Castiel possessed. Gadreel felt like he was treading in deep water without a life jacket surrounded by highly paid sharks. It was Castiel who excused himself and came up to Gadreel first. His smile was warm and his familiar face made Gadreel feel slightly less tense.

"Smile on and chin up no matter what they say to you," Castiel whispered in his ear. "You continue to clean up very nicely by the way."

Before they could converse further a balding, paunchy man came up to them. Zachariah was a senior associate in taxation law and he was in one word unpleasant.

"So here is the man of the hour, the Serpent Slaughterer himself."

Gadreel stiffened immediately then remembered Castiel's advice. He smiled a fixed eyed smile at the attorney. After a moment Zachariah looked away, but Gadreel kept looking.

"Jesus, he looks like a freaking psychopath," Zachariah muttered in Castiel's direction. "What kind of publicity is this going to generate for our firm?"

"As far as I'm aware your name is not on the list for the annual partnership nomination conference, so I would not concern myself overly about that," Castiel's tone was icy.

When Zachariah had walked off with a red face, another lawyer materialised. She was a fine looking woman, blond hair carefully coiffured, beautifully dressed and smiling sweetly. Her face was heart shaped, dominated by pale blue owlish eyes.

"Naomi is one of our principal partners."

Gadreel shook her hand. Naomi studied Gadreel for moment, made some small talk about his well being and was generally courteous.

"I am glad your pet project eventuated into a win for the firm," she said to Castiel. "I hope now you can focus more on our business interests?"

Castiel nodded, the most deferring Gadreel had thus seen him with anyone.

The last lawyer Castiel was introduced to by name was a man with a hawk like demeanour. He looked even older than Naomi and had so much gravitas that it was difficult to imagine him outside of a courtroom. Cain was the last principal partner of the firm.

"Collins, Milton and Krushnic," Castiel listed. "I'm the first principal partner, I inherited my place in the firm form my late father. Naomi Milton is the second she was here when the firm was founded and Cain Krushnic is the third. He is new, he used to work public prosecutions but we lured him in with the promise of a lot of money and only slightly tainted morals. There is a fourth silent partner but she is not here."

Cain looked at Gadreel as if he could see through to his soul. Gadreel got the distinct feeling that Cain had dealt with every type of murder and thief and rapist that walked the street. He wondered what Cain thought of him.

"You are not what I expected," Cain said, his voice deeper than even Castiel's. "I will keep an eye on you, young man."

Before Gadreel could respond he heard a commotion from the door.

"Zeke!"

Gadreel reeled on his heels, his heart beating fast when he heard the call. Two men burst in through the doors, dressed in plaid of all things and grabbed Gadreel up into a double bear hug. Gadreel embraced Sam and Dean Winchester like long lost brothers. It just so happened that the journalists were let in at the same time and suddenly there were flashes of light. They were photographed over and over in their candid moment of reunion. Gadreel hunching down to push his face into Dean's chest, tears pouring out of his eyes and Sam wrapping his long arms around them both.

Abbadon callled off the photographers and Gadreel posed with the partners of Collins Milton Krushnic. Castiel, in his suit and vest and blood red tie looked like some ridiculous prince of law as he stood with them before the bookshelves full of legislation and case books. There was little time to speak privately to the Winchesters, to catch up on all their long lost years. Sam got changed and read out a statement asking for privacy on behalf of Gadreel to the cameras whilst Gadreel himself stood behind him blinking at the camera flashes.

One journalist actually came up to Gadreel and tried to speak to him. She was a good looking woman with bright red hair and a determined spark in her eyes. She got as far as introducing herself as Rowena before Abbadon escorted her out. She winked over her shoulder at Gadreel mouthing "See you later." Her cameraman with a name badge that read 'Oskar' followed her out, still clicking furiously.

There was something vaguely familiar about Rowena and it unsettled Gadreel.

* * *

The rest of the day was the happiest Gadreel had experienced in a decade. Castiel took Sam and Dean and Gadreel out on a boat and they cruised away from the city into an isolated bay where Dean and Sam could fish. Castiel sat back, drinking mineral water and watching the three men.

"We used to do this as kids," Gadreel said, helping Sam with baiting the hook. "Dean was hopeless but he always cooked whatever we caught to perfection."

Dean was sat at the front of the small boat, grinning with his sunglasses on. He wrapped an arm around Gadreel's shoulders and it felt like coming home.

"How old were you when you all met?" Castiel asked.

"I was 15," Sam answered. "Dean would have been 19."

"Zeke, what were you 21?" Dean shoved him playfully. "You old man."

"And it was bible camp?"  Castiel drank his icy water, the sun was hot and there was a lot of bare torsos in sight. It was a little distracting.

"Our uncle Bobby and Gadreel's foster parents attended the same church. We lived in the same town," Sam explained, pulling out some beers form the cooler for Dean and Gadreel.

Gadreel nodded. He didn't really like to think about that year when all the shit went down but memories of meeting and befriending the Winchesters were bright patches of happiness in an otherwise dark time.

Looking at Dean now, Gadreel could hardly believe how strong and even more beautiful he had become. As a young man, Dean was pretty in a blond green eyed, feyish kind of way. He was jailbait with a cowboy accent and though Gadreel never thought of him that way back then, having not yet come to terms with his own sexual preferences, he did remember feeling an overwhelming urge to protect Dean.

The Crowleys were not nice men. They presented one face to the world, model gay couple, a veteran and his entrepreneurial life partner. They fostered and eventually adopted Gadreel, Meg and Ruby. What they were doing behind closed doors were beyond the pale. The forensic reports showed that Meg and Ruby were both raped before they were killed and the DNA matched Alastair and Fergus Crowley. It was the discovery of this crucial piece of evidence a decade after Gadreel's incarceration that had freed him. Gadreel could not work out how on earth such evidence was passed over at the initial investigation. Even Sam, who had found the evidence in the back of some dingy evidence locker at the original Texan police station, could not explain it. Except for the possibility that it was simply overlooked because Gadreel was an orphan and had no one to speak up for him.

Gadreel gutted the fish Dean and Sam caught. Carefully pulling out the insides and hanging them back onto the hooks. He washed the flesh until they were milky white.  When the boat pulled up on an isolated shore, they disembarked. Gadreel and Sam gathered some driftwood and built a small fire on the beach. Dean threaded the fish on some wild juniper branches and held them in his hands, turning them this way and that for a few minutes. Castiel sat on the cooler, smiling as the three men fell into sync. Sam and Dean were both sweating, with Sam stripping down to his boxers for a swim. Gadreel blinked at Sam's glistening profile in the water. Sam did not have a lawyer's body, his muscles rivalled Gadreel's and Gadreel had worked out a lot in prison. Faintly, Gadreel wondered what Sam worked out so hard for, maybe the Winchesters still hunted game in their spare time?

They ate the fish Dean cooked, the juices spilling down their chins. The afternoon grew hot and the drinks warm so eventually Gadreel, Sam and Dean cast aside what was left of the rest of their clothes in a pile and jumped into the welcoming water.

"I feel like the star of some gay Robinson Crueso porno," Castiel declared, not quite as undressed, though his shirt was untucked and rolled up at the sleeves. "It's been good boys."

"In your dreams, ya perv," Dean teased. "You're over dressed, what are you hiding under that shirt. Three nipples?"

"Let's make Cas a manwitch," Sam giggled at his own joke. "On three!"

Castiel whimpered when the Winchesters jumped him. Castiel was laughing and panting and Gadreel wondered if he needed to intervene. It looked like Castiel was having fun though and Dean and Sam were so happy it would have ruined the moment. Dean and Sam dumped Castiel in the water, Dean climbing all over him in an attempt to ride on Castiel's shoulders. Gadreel grunted and dived in. In a couple of strokes he was next to them. Castiel stood up with Dean's legs draped over his torso and clasped in his hands.

"Watch out, you got a spider monkey there too," Castiel said. Gadreel abruptly snapped his eyes up away from the sight of Castiel's nipples behind his now translucent shirt.

"We can take them!" Sam hissed hotly in Gadreel's ear from behind. Then he was all huge feet and hands, clambering over Gadreel's back and settling his considerable weight on his shoulders. Gadreel staggered, Sam was heavy. Castiel reached an arm out to steady Gadreel. They stood there, chest deep in the river, the Winchesters roughhousing above them, staring into each other's eyes. The water was cold, the sun warm, Castiel's touch hot and his handsome face rapt. Though it had always been difficult for Gadreel to feel things the way other people seemed to, he did feel, looking into Castiel's eyes, the joy and peace of the moment. A startling thought sounded at the back of Gadreel's head. He wondered whether kissing Castiel would shatter or make the moment perfect.  Somehow he found the courage to lean in and Castiel's grip tightened on his shoulder.

Dean gave a loud yelp overhead and his foot kicked up right into Gadreel's face. Gadreel's head snapped back and Sam tumbled off. Castiel let go of Dean's legs to reach out to Gadreel and Dean came crashing down between Gadreel and Castiel. His body wet and slippery, splashing as he hit the water. Gadreel held a hand over his nose, it was bleeding though it didn't hurt like a broken nose would. On Castiel's instruction, Sam swam to the boat and came back with the first aid kit, whilst Dean watched nervously as Castiel carefully stemmed the flow of the blood and wiped Gadreel's face clean.  Gadreel sat in the shade throughout the remainder of the afternoon. Castiel came and checked on him, whenever he could free himself from Dean and Sam's splashing and dunking.

* * *

The sun was setting by the time they were back on board the boat. Dean had apologised profusely to Gadreel for the mishap and Gadreel did his best to appease Dean's guilty conscience.

"This was meant to be your sort of coming out of prison party," Dean confessed in a small gruff voice.

"I'm having the time of my life," Gadreel reassured him. "Honestly Dean, if it wasn't for you and Sam. The two of you are like family to me, when I could believe in nothing and trust no one, it was you two I put my faith in."

Gadreel closed his mouth.  Castiel smiled at him fondly, this was probably the most he had ever said in one breath.  Sam looked like he was going to cry and Dean just wrapped his arms around Gadreel and squeezed the air out of his lungs.

As the sun sunk beneath the horizon, Gadreel sat with Sam at the back of the boat, chatting quietly. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Dean and Castiel with an arm around each other's shoulders, Castiel smoothly navigating at the helm. They were discussing Balthazar, Dean urging Castiel not to cancel the wedding plans just yet. Saying that his restaurant in Vermont can keep the date open indefinitely and that Balthazar would be sure to reappear and come grovelling back.

"You're not just anybody, Cas," Dean said, his eyes intensely green in the newly risen moonlight, peering at Castiel with rapt attention. "You're you and you are the best anyone could ever have."

Castiel had ducked his head with uncharacteristic modesty. "What would you know Dean, you don't swing my way."

And Dean had punched Castiel in the arm and grabbed him into a headlock until Castiel just laid his head on Dean's shoulder.

Gadreel turned his head and noticed Sam watching Dean and Castiel. 

"They are so gross," Sam said. 

Gadreel felt something hot and icy claw in his gut.  He was not sure what it it meant.  Dean and Castiel were still talking, their voices mingling in the darkness.

"You're too good for the likes of me, Cas," Dean said softly. "You are an angel. Too good for anyone."

Castiel gave Dean this long affectionate look and sighed.  "Dean, you sure you don't swing my way?"

"I'm not touching you with my filth," Dean said, his eyes sliding back towards Gadreel and Sam. 

"Yeah, you're pretty dirty Dean," Sam winked at him. 

Dean gave Sam his middle finger.  "Shut up bitch, I'll show you who the boss is."

"Wait till we get back to the motel, jerk, I'll take you," Sam answered back with equal fervour.

Castiel laughed.  "You two done incestuously flirting?"

Gadreel cleared his throat.  "Oh, Dean and Sam aren't, they've always been like this, even when they were young.  It's not sexual."

Dean burst out laughing at Gadreel's serious tone.  "Oh wow, Zeke, you don't gotta defend us."

Sam chuckled along.  "I'm not fucking Dean, for the record."

They all laughed for a full awkward minute. 

"I apologise, I do sometimes get the wrong end of the stick."

Dean snorted.  "You said stick."

"Grow up Dean," Castiel admonished, giving Dean a friendly pat on the shoulder.  "You haven't changed even after all those years."

"Alright dad," Dean smirked at Castiel.

"Dean, we talked about this, that just sounds kinky," Castiel drawled.

Sam shook his head at Dean with a censoring look.  Castiel chuckled and turned to Gadreel.

"Cas saved us, after you were gone," Sam whispered quietly into Gadreel's ear. "So in a weird way he's a little like a male parental figure to us.  Or at least a guardian.  Dean has daddy issues."

Gadreel had heard about the hunting accident that killed Bobby Singer.  It had happened when he was still in remand waiting to go to trial. He had lost contact with Sam and Dean for a few months and next thing he heard was that Bobby was found dead attached by bears and Dean and Sam had moved out of Texas. He still got emails from them every week which was how they stayed in touch but they weren't really able to help Gadreel and vice versa. It was all a very bad run of tragedies for Gadreel and his friends. The loss of Gadreel's entire adoptive family in such a violent slaughter. Dean and Sam losing Bobby so gruesomely. It was as if someone had uncapped an malevolent wind and it had swept destruction and death through Dean, Sam and Gadreel's world in the span of a few short months.

"It was pretty bad, we didn't really tell you much about because we didn't want to worry you while your trial was going on. Dean was still 10 months shy of 21 and he didn't have a job," Sam whispered. "We kind of didn't want to go back into foster care. Had enough of that shit before Uncle Bobby took us in after our parents and the house fire. So we went on the run. Didn't tell you cause we didn't want to distract you from your own case. We travelled around, hitching and sleeping rough. Then one day we found ourselves in Vermont in the middle of no where. No money, no car, no one to go to for help. We were in this, like, freaking forest. Dean was sick, came down with a fever and I remember sitting next to him under a tree holding Bobby's old hunting knife and just feeling scared like I've never felt before. Dean was bad, like hallucinating and calling out for our mom bad and then I hear this noise in the woods, like some big animal and I'm like fuck I'm 16 and I've got this little knife ..."

Sam made little slash jab motions with his fist. "I was shitting myself and then out of the mist comes this guy. In freaking polo gear, like some British cologne ad. Cas would have been late twenties and he was so pretty he looked like a girl. He told us we were trespassing on private property and Dean kind of woke up and told him to fuck off. Then he fainted and Cas came off the horse and got us help. It was his family's summer hobby farm and he was there for the summer holidays between University courses. When Dean got better, we tried to leave but Cas said that he needed us. He kept letting us stay for doing little jobs around the place. Fixing stuff up, looking after the livestock. We lived there pretty much on Cas' goodwill till Dean turned 21 and at Cas' graduation from law school he promised us that he would make sure that Dean became my legal guardian so that we need never worry about being separated again. He got it done in three months, that's when I made up my mind I wanted to be a lawyer too."

"So he saved you two, the way you and Dean saved me," Gadreel clasped Sam's hands between his palms.

"What goes around come around," Sam smiled broadly, then his face grew solemn. "I'm sorry we left you there to rot all those years. There was no other option. At least we knew you were safe."

Gadreel was taken aback. "How is prison safe?"

"From him," Sam whispered, his voice shaking slightly in the chill night air. "He couldn't get you while you were in there, to silence you."

Gadreel swallowed, icy fingers of doubt tickling up his spine.

"The real Serpent Slaughterer, he's still out there," Sam said with conviction in his eyes. "We know you didn't kill your family, so someone did, and he's free."

"Sam? That was me, I killed Alastair and Fergus. When I saw Ruby and Meg's bodies and Alastair said I was to be next, I killed them." Gadreel stuttered. "You know that."

"Alastair and Fergus didn't kill your foster sisters," Sam said. "The DNA evidence they found, that wasn't at the original crime scene. I planted those into the evidence locker."

Gadreel's world spun a little. "What?"

"I faked the evidence that freed you," Sam whispered.

The night grew suddenly chilly as Sam waited for Gadreel's reaction.

"I'm sorry, you were in death row. Your execution date was about to set.  I couldn't take the chance, I had to get you out," Sam said, earnest and desperate. "I know what I did was wrong, but I'd do it again. Some wrong things are worth if they are done out of love."

"Sam! You could go to jail," Gadreel said, his hands were shaking as was his voice. The realisation that Sam had committed perjury, that his release was based on a lie, shook Gadreel. What if the police figured it out. What if Sam got caught. What they all ended up back in there in that stark place where time meant nothing but the weight of existence?

Gadreel felt like crying, like something precious had been taken from him by the revelation that Sam Winchester, of all people, was capable of such forgery. "Lying and cheating to get your way is not the Sam Winchester I know. You and your brother are the best men I know."

Sam ducked his head, biting his bottom lip. "I knew in my gut you were innocent. I got the DNA from an unknown source, I took a chance. I would chose you every time over any morals or ethics. Gadreel, you are a part of our family. When Dean and I had no one but cooky Uncle Bobby and his talk of demons and the devil and the end of the world, you were the only person who stood up for us when we were in school and at bible camp. When Alastair got his hands on the bible study group, you made sure Dean and I slept next to you every single night."

Gadreel gulped, he had known instinctively that Alastair was an abusive bastard and that Fergus would do anything to keep him sweet. Whether the DNA on Ruby and Meg were planted or not, he was sure the Crowleys were preying on them. His blood grew cold as he thought of Ruby and Meg.

"But why would anyone, apart from the Crowleys want the girls dead?" Gadreel asked.

"I looked into that you know. The Crowleys were wealthy, if the girls died and you were in jail the money would have gone to two other people. I tried to find out who they were but Hannah is very careful with information like that. Which brings me to the reason why I'm telling you all this. You need to be careful Gadreel. Whoever killed your sisters and put you in jail is probably watching you right now, just waiting to strike."

Gadreel looked up to see Castiel watching him from the other side of the boat and Dean smiling faintly at him in the darkness, eyes full of hero worship. They had picked up speed and the wind was loud enough that Gadreel was sure the conversation between Sam and he remained private. Still, it was unnerving to see them, green and blue eyes glinting in the moonlight, looking at him as if they found him tantalising.

"Well, they don't call me the Serpent Slaughterer for nothing," Gadreel said through gritted teeth. "They can come for me all they like."

Gadreel remembered only too well the carnage of killing Alastair. He had enjoyed it, stabbing his foster fathers and gutting them. He had exposed their crimes to the light of day, written on their carcasses with the tip of his blade. 'Serpent' and 'snake' he gifted each of them and took away other parts of them. Cutting away their sin. They were not the people they pretended to be, their duplicity had hurt Gadreel more than their violence. Alastair had always taken pleasure in tyrannising his foster children under the guise of discipline. Crowley was soulless and complicit. Fury burned through Gadreel like holy wrath and he had been merciless. Now with this information from Sam, he wondered if he had been wrong about at least Crowley. Remembered the moments of being sent off to bed and checked upon by the man. The times when Crowley had been alone with his children and somewhat kind.

"I know you did it not just for yourself, or to avenge your sisters, you did it for me and Dean," Sam said.

Something like panic coursed through Gadreel's veins.

"I know Alastair was getting interested in me and Dean.  That he had been asking questions about us, where we hung out, what we got up to," Sam sighed.  "He was gonna come after us next. If not for what you did, Dean and I would be caught.  So thank you Gadreel, from the the bottom of my heart."

Sam's face was open and eyes glistening with tears.  Gadreel lowered his head.

"You freed me knowing I am a merciless killer," Gadreel said. "You let me out into the world. Let me sleep with your friend..."

Sam looked up at Gadreel in surprise. "You slept with Cas?"

All the blood drained from Sam's face.

"It was only sleeping," Gadreel clarified.

"Yeah, I know about Cas' thing." Sam said, running his hands over his temples like he was getting a headache. "Whatever you do, don't let Dean find out about you helping Cas out."

"Why is that?"

"It's something that Dean usually does for Cas, when Cas is between boyfriends.  You see how they are.  Cas thinks Dean is straight.  Dean thinks Cas is untouchable.  And meanwhile, it's all heart eyes and sexual tension.  They are complicated."

Gadreel blinked and nodded.  A silence fell upon them as Castiel drove the boat across the bay.  The boat came to a stop after a while, Dean jumping up to the pier. He smiled and reached a hand out to Castiel, pulling him ashore. Castiel turned and offered his hand to Gadreel.

"I can manage," Gadreel said quietly and climbed onto the pier with Sam.

That night Sam and Dean crashed at Castiel's place. Sam slept in the guest room but Gadreel noticed that Castiel carried Dean's duffle bag into his bedroom. Gadreel crashed on the couch. Castiel did not come for Gadreel.

* * *


	2. Flesh

Gadreel could not sleep.  He tossed and turned, Fergus Crowley's face flashing before his eyes.  Silently, he slipped off the couch and dressed himself in his layers of black and hoodie.  He walked through the house, past Sam's closed door.  Gadreel wasn't sure what he was doing but he found himself going upstairs towards Castiel's room.  He was familiar with the double french doors opening into the room, the handle turned noiselessly at his touch.

Castiel was tied up beautifully.  Fine custom leather straps crisscrossed over his torso, hands bound by cuffs, limbs stretched out and secured to permanently mounted fastening points on his expansive bed.  Dean was wrapped up around him, leg thrown over Castiel's hip possessively, arms tight over his chest. His fingers twitched in his sleep. 

The room was dark, growing darker, all the light fading away.  Gadreel blinked, agitation growing, hands shaking.  Something was very wrong.  Racing to the wall, he flicked on the light.  The room was flooded in forensic blue white glare, the blood crimson, the splay of Castiel's limbs gruesome, his chest carved with the word 'serpent' and Dean behind him staring at his bloodied hand in horror whispering "What did you do Zeke?" 

Gadreel sat up in his bed, panting. There was daylight through the windows, faint morning light but it was certainly not the swallowing darkness of his dreams.  He pulled on his clothes, the jeans, the layers, he hoodie.  He didn't pause at the stairs when he left the house, not wanting to relive any aspect of his nightmare.  Instead, he broke into a jog as soon as he was outside, running full pelt down the street, sucking in lungfuls of fresh air in an attempt to clear his head.  

The park he found himself in was deserted, the lawns littered with autumn leaf litter.  He wasn't quite lost because when he looked up he could still see Castiel's apartment tower overhead only a couple of blocks away.  He bent over, hands on his knees, staring into a wretched looking pond full of dying waterlilies.  He saw movement in the water, a weak sort of flip flop motion.  For a moment, Gadreel thought he might still have been asleep.  That some clammy version of Fergus or Alastair or worse someone he loved, Castiel or Dean or Sam, would come climbing out.  Yet the pain in his muscles and the chill of the air told him he was awake.

It was just a pigeon tangled up in a rubbish bag.  Gadreel waded into the unclean water and grasped at it frantically.  The poor creature put up a last struggle and with a sickening crack it's wings broke.  Gadreel sat on the edge of the pond, dripping with slime, while the bird died in his hands.   

A flash went off.  Gadreel looked up to see a handsome and tall blond grinning at him behind a digital camera.  The flash went off again as Gadreel stood up. 

"The Serpent Slaughterer killing a helpless bird in a children's park?" Rowena stepped out from behind Oskar, beaming.  "This was worth sitting out in a car all night.  They say animal cruelty is a sure trait of a serial killer."

Gadreel dropped the bird, wincing when it landed with a sloppy thud on the grass.  

"You are in deep waters my boy," Rowena smiled.  "Better start using what's behind that beautiful face."

"You are that reporter, I saw you and your cameraman at the press conference." 

"Am I?" Rowena winked at him.  "That's very clever of you to remember."

"I am not a fool," 

"Could have fooled me.  Way I see it either you are dumb or crazy wicked.  You told the whole world you killed two men and what do they do, they let you go.  Alastair, yes, he was as evil as they come.  But Fergus, he was a mere pawn.  Something stinks and I will find out what it is so that you and those creepy Winchester boys get what you all deserve!"

Gadreel was trembling with the desire to shut Rowena up.  He took a step closer to her, his face darkening.  

"You leave him alone!" A deep voice interrupted.  "Gadreel, come." 

Gadreel whipped around to see Castiel.  His hair was mussed from sleep and he was dressed for jogging.  He looked fresh and alive and furious.  

"You're just his dog and he's not a man.  He's the Winchesters' puppet." Rowena spat out at Gadreel.  "Be careful my bonny boy the noose is tightening around your neck with every tick tock." 

"Come with me," Castiel grabbed hold of Gadreel's arm and they started walking away from her. 

"Castiel!" She shouted behind them.  "Castiel all your money and power won't save you.  You're cursed.  Everyone you love dies.  You would have been better off dead when those kidnappers took you.  Oh and where's your boyfriend Balthazar?  Did he see through your pretty boy Bruce Wayne act and find the filth beneath?  Better start looking for him, he might be dead."

Castiel turned and gave Rowena such a hateful glare that she stopped screaming.  Her face turning ashen as he stared her down with burning blue eyes.  She retreated one step then two then turned and walked away with Oskar in tow. 

"I am this close to taking out a restraining order on that woman, she's not even a real journalist," Castiel said to Gadreel. 

Gadreel was still staring at Castiel, shaken by the murderous look he had given Rowena and a little disturbed by the quick manner in which Castiel transformed back into amicable lawyer.  

"I got Abbadon to run some checks on her.  The newspaper her press pass is from never heard of her, she's a fake.  And get this, the surname she used, 'Coven'".  

Castiel rolled his eyes expressively.  "How unimaginative is that?" 

Gadreel couldn't help but allow a smile to slowly take over his face.  "Seriously, the woman is deranged, the number of times she's emailed my firm address with 'new evidence' and 'sinister plots'.  I have her in my spam filter now.  Don't let her trouble you.  According to her, we are all psychotic serial killer sex orgy groupies." 

This time Gadreel chuckled.  

"So," Castiel put a hand on Gadreel's elbow.  "You weren't in your bed when I came to see you this morning.  Are you okay?  I know coming out is a big adjustment." 

Gadreel nodded then shook his head.  

Castiel's face grew soft, his eyes kind.  "Tell me about it over a pumpkin latte?" 

Gadreel could only nod and melt in the man's warm presence. And just like that, like a spell was broken, Gadreel felt safe and warm in Castiel's presence. 

* * * 

The cafe Castiel took Gadreel to was across the road from his apartment.  It was a boutique grinder which sold it's own beans scavenged from South America and hand roasted organically or something like that.  Gadreel couldn't really tell, only that it tasted sweet and mellow.  Castiel texted Sam and Dean to join them for brunch when they were up.

"Dean will go nuts over the pumpkin strudel," Castiel laughed.  "First he'll complain it's an abomination of pie, but once he gets a taste, he'll want to flirt with the staff till they let slip the secret recipe." 

"So, Dean, sleep okay?" Gadreel asked hesitatingly.  

"Yes, like a champ, we both did," Castiel grinned.  "He wore me out." 

"Oh." 

"What 'Oh'?"  Castiel studied the way Gadreel played with his fork, poised over the harvest omelet.  "It's not like that. We played WiiFit Resort.  It's a video game for soccer mums.  They have a boxing thing." 

"That doesn't make any sense to me," Gadreel sighed.  "But I'll take your word for it." 

Castiel's hand lashed out and Gadreel froze as Castiel cupped his cheek.  "You take a lot of things on faith don't you?" 

The tip of Castiel's thumb grazed over Gadreel's cheekbone repeatedly.  

"I don't know if that is a good trait but I do like it," Castiel said.  "Would it concern you if Dean and I were involved?" 

"I have no claim upon you, Castiel.  You are betrothed."  Gadreel hated how his voice came out as if he was in need, as if this was not just two newly acquainted friends having brunch.  He had known the Winchesters for over a decade and got truly close them as much as he loved them. Why would Gadreel suddenly feel so awed in the presence of Castiel, a man he had just met.  A kind man, and in Gadreel's gut he knew, a good man. 

"Well, that's true." Castiel pulled his hand away, placing them in his lap neatly and looking a little flustered.  "I am still technically engaged, something I cannot undo until Balthazar reappears. So you are right I have no place asking you questions like that. I apologise." 

Gadreel could tell Castiel was upset.

"I don't mean to ..."  Gadreel tried to get the words out.  "I'm sorry, Castiel, it discomforts me to say anything that upsets you." 

"Really?" Castiel lifted an eyebrow archly.   "This whole thing upsets me Gadreel, everything about you upsets me, just being around you is virtually impossible." 

Gadreel sat stunned. 

Castiel gestured agitatedly.  "You with your thousand year old eyes and outdated manners.  Your darkness and your body and your face.  The way you defer yourself to everyone else, your despicable innocence."

Then Castiel was kissing him, body draped over the table, hands in the materials of Gadreel's hoodie, mouth biting and desperate.  Castiel tasted like coffee and fire and the skin of his hands felt warm and fragile in Gadreel's palms.  Gadreel held Castiel's hands, fumbling over the knuckles and nails and wrists.  Gripping on tight as he felt the sensation  of falling take over his entire body.  Castiel moaned when Gadreel tentatively licked at his tongue, tilting Castiel's head back a little with a nudge of his nose.   Gadreel opened his eyes and he could see that Castiel was looking at him from beneath fluttering lashes.  Mouth open and chest heaving.

"Upstairs, now," Castiel grunted. 

"Sam and Dean ..." Gadreel began to say. 

"Can fuck themselves," Castiel blushed.  "I mean, they can have brunch and entertain themselves.  Come on Gadreel, I haven't had you alone to myself for days." 

"One day and one night."

"Eternity." 

Gadreel looked at Castiel skeptically, his heart hammering in his chest told him to grab a hold of him and never let go.  Yet, reason told him he ought to at least let Sam and Dean know they were being stood up. 

Castiel puleld out his cell and typed frantically. "There I've texted them.  They have stuff to do in town I'm sure.  Please, Gadreel, before I drag you under the table and get us both charged for public nuisance." 

Gadreel considered this.  "Well, I don't want any more brushes with the law." 

Castiel grinned wickedly.  "That's right." 

Gadreel had feared they would bump into Sam and Dean on the way back into the apartment but the guys were gone with a note on the fridge stating "Gone hunting for ingredients, be back for lunch.  Get ready to eat. Dean."

That left Castiel and Gadreel with a couple of hours.  Castiel grabbed Gadreel by the lacing of his hoodie and pulled him towards his bedroom. 

"I know how it looks.  Balthazar and I, we are engaged.  But we are more friends than lovers.  The truth is we always planned to have an open marriage and though I care for him deeply as a person and the sex is good, it's not a love story.  Dean was quite opposed.  He said I ought to hold out for someone truly special.  I didn't listen and here I am looking at that person I should have waited for.   I assure you, Balthazar would understand and I promise the second I get in touch with him, I will break off the engagement.  Part of the reason why I'm searching heaven and earth for him, was to tell him about my changed circumstances and beg forgiveness."  

"Changed circumstances?" Gadreel could barely believe his ears.  

If it were anyone but Castiel, he would be judging their faithfulness and loyalty to a betrothal.  Though who was he to judge how Castiel felt about a man Gadreel had never met before.  There was no way Gadreel could get around the fact that he had developed these feelings for someone who he had known, very early on, was taken.  Perhaps it was the fact that Castiel was plainly from a different world, socially, economically, experientially.  There was no shame in looking up to the sky if he thought the stars were far and distant.   Now, a meteor was blazing down upon him.  

"You are the missing piece, all these years, I regret every day you were imprisoned.  I regret every moment I did not spend with you," Castiel said.  "Will you be with me, Gadreel?  Spend your time on me?"

All Gadreel could do was kiss Castiel again.  Making those laser intense eyes blur with desire.  His heart hammered in his chest, he was not Dean Winchester, Gadreel reminded himself.  Castiel was not an angel on a pedestal, he was heat and stuttering breath and primal human needs.  Gadreel was not Dean, he did not have it in himself to refrain from kissing Castiel hard, touch his body for gratification, take what Castiel offered so plaintively.  They moved towards the bedroom incrementally.  

It was easy to forget about Balthazar and Dean when they kissed with growing confidence.  Then they were at the foot of the stairs leading up to Castiel's bedroom.  Castiel paused for a moment, smiling at Gadreel and cupping his flushed cheek in his hand. 

"I'm guessing you assume I am going to do some sort of fifty shades thing to you, judging by my sleeping habits," Castiel said teasingly as they climbed the stairs.  

"I haven't seen that TV show." 

Castiel laughed and pulled Gadreel into another kiss.  

They ended up sprawled over Castiel's grand spiralling stairs and it was only due to Gadreel's athleticism and endurance that they didn't fall and break their necks in the midst of their first blow job.  

Castiel's hands rifled through Gadreel's hair as he panted savagely.  "Is it okay if we don't fuck." 

Gadreel pulled back, mouth glistening and tongue swollen.  "Of course." 

"It just wouldn't feel right until I've told Balthazar.  He did dump me but we are still as you say, in your charming way, technically 'betrothed'.  I know it's a superficial distinction.  I just, when we do it, I don't want any ghosts in the room." 

Gadreel's answer was a simple "Yes."

"You might have noticed I tend to speak a lot during sex. I know that compared to you I talk too mych in general.  It's just that when I'm turned on I get quite, oh wow, conversational.  I swear during sex too.  It's a quirk." Castiel moaned.  "Oh fuck.  For someone who doesn't say much your mouth is really very clever." 

Gadreel smiled and kept proving to Castiel that no words were necessary until Castiel drew back abruptly.  Hands clutching at his cock, rubbing himself feverishly until the come sprayed out, landing hard and thick on Gadreel's face. 

"Shit," Castiel swore loudly.  "Oh I got you." 

Gadreel was on his knees, his eyes wide, his face mottled with come. 

"Let me clean that up for you." 

Gadreel shuddered when Castiel leaned forward and reverently licked all the come from his face, lapping gently until the very last trace was gone. 

When the door bell rang heralding the return of Sam and Dean, Castiel started laughing maniacally. He was soon giggling breathlessly.  Gadreel bashfully righted his clothing while Castiel went to open the door.  Throwing over his shoulder with a flirtatious glance.  "Dean did tell us to get ready to eat." 

* * *

They had a pleasant lunch of gourmet burgers.  Dean mincing up some sort of game meat that he had bought from downtown and tossing in a tonne of herbs and secret seasonings.  Dessert was the delivery of a pumpkin strudel from the cafe across the road that Castiel had ordered to treat Dean.  Sam and Gadreel did the washing up while Castiel and Dean conferred in lowered voices in the living room, talking all over a sports highlight reel.   

Gadreel could hear Castiel saying "Well, I don't know if I can be without him for that long." 

And Dean saying "Oh why is that." 

He almost dropped a plate trying to listen in on the conversation and Sam gave him an inquiring look.

"You'll see him at the wedding," Dean could be heard to say. 

Castiel mumbled something and Dean raised his voice.  "What do you mean the wedding is off?"

Castiel came out of the living room looking flushed.  "It means Balthazar and I aren't together anymore.  Dean, I know you want me to be happily married in gay bliss ever after, but the truth is I haven't heard from Balthazar for days." 

"Days, Cas, days!" Dean looked upset.  "This is the man you were going to marry! You wouldn't wait for days for him? He could be out of reception or his phone broke, I don't know maybe he got hit by a car and have amnesia!" 

"Dean, come on, that's melodramatic," Castiel said.  "Not the first time Balthazar stood me up.  I always go for the bad guys. You said, yourself, that Balthazar wasn't the right man for me, I ignored your advice, however unsolicited." 

"No, Cas.  This is so unlike you.  You are loyal to a fault," Dean said, his voice pleading.  "It's not even about Balthazar. It's about falling for someone without reserve. If you love someone it should last forever, it's gotta be the most profound bond, it just doesn't fall apart so easily." 

"Well, maybe I'm not as much of a romantic as you are Dean," Castiel said sadly, then with reddening cheeks he confessed.  'I ... I've kind of moved on with someone else."

The shattering of the glass in Sam's hand interrupted the showdown.  Gadreel ran up to help Sam, stemming the blood flow from his hand with a tea towel.  He looked guiltily at Castiel and Dean.  

Dean cursed loudly and grabbed Sam by the wrist.  "I got better bandages in the Impala.  I'll wait till you are packed Gadreel."

"He's staying here!" Castiel said exasperatedly.  

Dean just gave Gadreel a long glare and left with Sam in tow, looking increasingly pale. 

Castiel was packing away the leftovers in a huff. Only Dean seemed to be able to ruffle his feathers like this. 

"I don't understand, were you and Dean arguing over me?" Gadreel asked hesitantly. 

"I suppose you could call it an argument," Castiel sighed.  "The plan when I picked you up in Texas was to drive you here, deliver you to Sam and Dean and have them take you back to Maine with them.  Now they are here and I'm telling them you're staying with me indefinitely.  They won't like that.  They both want you with them, to keep an eye out for you.  Are you familiar with the protective instincts of the the Winchester brothers?" 

Castiel and Gadreel exchanged a knowing look.  

"I cannot stay with you," Gadreel said gently. 

Castiel frowned.  

"What will I be here but a paramour to a man betrothed to another.  Who knows when Balthazar will return if he ever does.  And whilst you desire me now, you cannot, ultimately, entertain more than a shadow of affection for me."

"I'll decide what I feel for you," Castiel squinted at Gadreel.  "Now stop with the Hamlet, we need to go and tell the boys you're staying." 

Gadreel growled, he put himself between Castiel and the door, using his superior height to loom over the man.  For the first time their physical difference came to bear on both of them.  The strength of Gadreel's body, his elongated limbs, his muscled frame pressed down on Castiel without actually touching him.  Castiel did not cower, he lifted his head and squinted at Gadreel, his expression fierce. 

"You said yourself, you always go for the bad guys," Gadreel touched Castiel's neck with his fingertips.  "My hands are unclean, when I touch you it is a fallen man seeking absolution." 

Castiel looked into Gadreel's eyes.  "That's a little melodramatic don't you think?" 

"I have killed, given the appropriate stimulation I would kill again." 

Castiel grabbed a hold of Gadreel's trembling hands.  "In the American justice system and as is prevalent around the globe in both civil and common law jurisdictions exists the natural law principal of double jeopardy.  This means in essence that you are punished for whatever crimes once and when that punishment is served, you are free." 

Gadreel shook his head.  "No..."

"Shut up," Castiel surged forward and kissed Gadreel on the mouth.  Then another kiss followed by a longer deeper onc each time Gadreel tried to speak.  

They never did make it down into the garage to meet up with Sam and Dean.  

* * * 

Sam sounded friendly on the phone when Gadreel called the next morning to ask about his hand.  

"Yeah, Dean took me to the doctor's and looks like I don't need any stitches.  It's no big deal, I've cut myself worse in the kitchen."  

"Nonetheless, I'm sorry about last night." 

"It's not your problem, Dean gets a little intense around Castiel.  It's weird he thinks he owes Castiel something from back when Castiel saved us."

"I don't know if that is exactly how I would describe it," Gadreel said hesitantly.  "I think it goes both ways.  They are entirely too possessive of one another." 

Sam sucked in a breath.  "Huh, you noticed too.  I guess that's why we moved out of the farm and decided to start our own restaurant near enough to Castiel's estate but not so close as to be in his pockets all the time.  I mean before you came along, Castiel was gonna get married to Balthazar and really it would be weird for us to hang around him so much after that." 

"Before I came along?" Gadreel said nervously. 

"You guys are a couple now aren't you?"  Sam sounded matter of fact. His voice was quiet but not judging. 

Gadreel hesitated.  "I'm not sure what we are, until Balthazar is back and Castiel can clear the air with him." 

Sam chuckled.  "You're so careful and too nice.  Castiel's great, I mean apart from being the most eligible bachelor in Boston thing, he's also just a good guy.  Generous to a fault, funny and sexy as hell right?  Not that I would know, I guess." 

"I think you know," Gadreel said not unkindly. 

"Yeah okay he's kind of attractive to anyone and everyone." Sam laughed.  "Kinda like Dean that way.  Well, I'll assume Castiel is off the market, again.  And you guys take care.  Oh by the way, there's a storage unit with all your old stuff in it that Dean kept for you.  I'll text you the address and access code, you might want to get some of your old things and move into Castiel's.  Unless of course he's insisting on treating you to a whole new wardrobe?" 

"I'm not a kept man if that's what you are implying," Gadreel said without malice.  "I will go to the storage unit and can I speak to Dean?  To thank him for looking after my things?"

"All right, no problem.  Oh, er, sorry Gadreel, Dean's a little preoccupied right now," Sam said, Gadreel could tell by the sudden shift in his happy tone that Dean had refused to talk to him.   

"That's okay, I'll call again tonight," Gadreel said dejectedly.  He guessed that Dean might be a little enamoured with Castiel and didn't like the idea of Gadreel being with him. It did feel like something of an over reaction from Dean, but Gadreel had learned quickly that Dean and Castiel was hellishly complicated. 

Castiel was needed in the office that morning.  Having been away the whole weekend he had a bit of a backlog to get through on a Monday morning.  He called Gadreel at about 9 am and asked if he needed to send Abbadon to accompany Gadreel to get his stuff.   Gadreel declined the offer, being certain that the paralegal PA extraordinaire would be far better utilised in an actual law firm than babysitting him.  Gadreel caught the subway out of the city then a bus to the storage place.  The unit was all paid up by the Winchesters, which was a good thing.   Hannah was arranging for Gadreel to at least receive a stipend of interest payments from the trust, given that he had no assets whatsoever.  Gadreel allowed it only so that he didn't need to ask Sam or Dean or Castiel for money to buy food or say a bus ticket.  He asked her to set the amount at minimum wage, with the plan that he would have the payment stop all together as soon as he found a job.  Gadreel had already had a look online using Castiel's laptop for jobs in the local area.  He thought there were some entry level labouring jobs for construction sites that he might be able to interview for.  He was very strong and he knew how to push his body to its limits and the repetition of manual labour appealed to him.  Gadreel was looking forward to coming home to Castiel, his body tired but his mind clear.  To be able to hold the man and cherish him without overthinking about his past.   

As he unlocked the storage unit, Gadreel broke into a surprised cheer.  His old Kawasaki was in there.  The one he had rebuilt with his hands from junk parts bought back to life.  The key was in the ignition and Gadreel said a little prayer as he turned it.  The engine roared to life drawing the attenion of neighbouring storage unit owners.  

Extremely pleased, Gadreel pushed the bike out and set it aside ready to carry his stuff.  Living in prison had taught him that he didn't need alot of material goods.  He did have quite a few possessions that Crowley had gotten him, but the treasures of a 21 year old man would not serve a 31 year old so well.  He remembered the contents of his room, the old computer, the furniture and stacks of textbooks would be useless now.  Even the smaller of the clothes would not fit his hardened body.  Perhaps the t-shirts, long sleeved shirts, jeans and coats might still be salvageable.  He may have to save up money to buy some better fitting and less 90s clothes.   For a moment Gadreel thought about just riding off on the bike and telling the storage company to junk the rest.  Then he remembered that there was a couple of photo albums somewhere with his sisters and the Winchesters in them.  He wanted those.  Smiling, Gadreel walked over to the pile of stuff covered by tarpaulin and pulled away the covering.  

The handsome blond man underneath was tied up elaborately, his throat cut but bloodless, his torso naked and scratched with the word "Serpent". 

* * *

Detectives Hanscum and Mills exchanged a look.  

"Gotta tell ya, mister high flying criminal law attorney, this is the worst alibi we have ever heard." 

Castiel shrugged.  "Does it make me look less stupid if I tell you that I don't plan on representing Gadreel should he be charged?" 

Detective Mills raised her eyebrows.  "Do you mean to say that you have made the shocking decision not to try and defend your lover, also known as the Serpent Slaughterer, found at the dump site of your fiance's murder?"

Detective Hanscum continued.  "Oh and don't forget that Gadreel actually had admitted to killing Fergus and Alastair Crowley.  His only alibi in the killing of the current victim is that he was with you during the timeframe of the killing, because quote 'Castiel needs to be tied up in order to fall asleep and I was at his apartment helping him with that'."

Despite his years of legal training, even Castiel had the good graces to blush faintly at that.  

"And I also have the statement of one Mr Gabriel Engel that you didn't make any attempts to locate Mr Balthazar Milton during the three day timeframe in which he was missing.  Instead, Gadreel, hot stuff ex-con, says that you have decided to break off the engagement in order to pursue a sexual relationship with him.  The primary suspect in Mr Balthazar's murder." 

"I'm not hiding the fact that Gadreel and I have commenced an intimate relationship."

Detective Mills rolled her eyes.  "Yeah, and maybe you did tell us that to be candid but you could also have foreseen something like this?" 

She pushed an open file to him, there were photographs in it.  Gadreel at the park with the dead bird.  A long range shot of them kissing in the cafe.  Of course Rowena had tailed them. 

Castiel smiled faintly.  "I haven't broken the law.  Maybe society will judge me harshly from a moral perspective but I am already a lawyer so ..." 

"Did you know that the pre-nuptial agreement you signed with Balthazar guaranteed inheritance of each other's assets should one die intestate?"  Detective Mills wasn't letting up.  

"I drafted the document, of course I knew." 

"So you stand to inherit Balthazar's assets."  

Castiel sighed, opening his hands.  "Jody, if you have done any research at all about me - and don't even think the whole hick regional detective newly assigned to Boston act is working on me, I know the two of you are intelligent experienced investigators - you would know that I am already one of the most wealthy individuals in the city.  No one will accept money as a motive for murder in my case."

"What about power?  Balthazar is Naomi Milton's nephew and her living will makes him the executor of her estate.  If she were to pass away you would get a controlling shareholding in Collins Milton Krushnic as opposed to the current three way split between you, Cain and Naomi.  I would say a jury would find control of a multi-million dollar prestige law firm a tempting prize for someone like you?" 

Castiel smiled, teeth white and sharp.  "I am so pleased that this case is being run by two excellent detectives.  For you to find that out is incredible because (A) I had no idea Naomi was leaving her estate to Balthazar because she does have her own partner and (B) Do you think then if I had planned something as elaborate as that, Naomi would still be alive?  The deceased cannot inherit.  Family Law 101."

Donna swallowed visibly.  Castiel could have sworn he heard her whisper in her partner's ear "He's so hot when he talks legalese." 

It was detective Mills who regrouped and resumed their interrogation. 

"All right, if you're supposedly too fancy and rich to kill for a lot of dough, maybe the jury will accept money and power as a motive for Gadreel, in an attempt to benefit his new lover?  Someone as messed up as Gadreel could be seen as volatile by a jury. Did you know the prison psychiatrist diagnosed Gadreel with severe dissociation from his childhood?  There was physical evidence on his body of violent abuse from Alastair yet he remembers none of it.  He thinks that his killing of them in self-defence was purely done to protect his sisters but the medical examiner's report on 21 year old Gadreel would make angels cry." 

Castiel's face darkened.  "Well, good thing he killed him then.  I would have done the same." 

Detective Hanscum gave a frustrated groan and charged out of the room.  Detective Mills quickly read the time into the recorder and said 'interview suspended'. 

Castiel folded his arms and waited for his own attorney to arrive.  

* * * 

Hannah sat with Gadreel who did not meet her eyes.  After twenty silent minutes, she stopped checking her emails and got up to get two paper cups of water for both of them. 

"Have you had lunch?" She asked calmly after another half hour. 

Gadreel blinked, his eyes refocusing again.  "Sorry, what time is it?" 

"It's 1.30 pm," Hannah said.  "I am half an hour behind schedule to eat my lunch.  I'm trying a new paleo regime, I really should eat." 

"Oh, go ahead, I'm sorry to keep you.  I'll be fine here."

Hannah took out two protein bars from her brief case.  "Lucky I came prepared.  Here." 

Gadreel looked at the sugar free, raw cocoa, organic coconut muesli bar as if Hannah just handed him a bloodied body part from an evidence bag.  "I'm not hungry." 

"You are about to be interrogated by two of the smartest detectives I have ever crossed paths with.  You might want a energy boost.  They'll be here as soon as they are done with Castiel." 

Gadreel came alive at the mention of that name.  "Castiel is not involved in this, he has nothing to do with it. Please Hannah, you have to go and help him."

"Help Castiel Collins in a police station?" Hannah's face broke into a faint smirk.  "They'll be lucky if he doesn't fuck with them till their heads explode." 

Gadreel looked at her, the obscenity sounded strangely incongruous coming from the straight-laced angel-faced lawyer.  

"I wouldn't worry about Castiel, Gadreel." 

The implication that Gadreel should be worried about Gadreel was obvious but unspoken.  Two detectives came through the door just as Gadreel grudgingly bit into his protein bar.  

"It seems quite emotionally callous to eat when you are being interviewed in a murder investigation," said the dark haired detective with a steely glare.  

Her partner nudged her in the ribs and turned a charming smile on Gadreel.  "She's such a grump, man's gotta eat.  Woman's gotta eat too.  Hey I'm Donna.  How about we split these and don't tell the tape recorder?" 

The somewhat younger of the two detectives produced a paper bag and started passing the warm bagels around the room.  Her partner, whose first name was undisclosed 'for reasons of remaining professional, remember Donna?', declined but Hannah and Gadreel ate with Donna.  

When they were done, Donna gave a satisfied stretch and said "All right then, lets get to work." 

She hit record on the machine and grinned.  "So tell us your life story buddy."

* * * 

To Gadreel's complete shock he and Castiel were back in the apartment that very same evening, without any charges being laid.  Getting back into the apartment was difficult due to all the news vans parked along the street.  The front foyer was packed and it was only Hannah's quick thinking and Castiel's good relationship with a neighbour that got them into the building via a service door and a private lift.  The apartment was packed with people.   Charlie the Head of IT, Abaddon Castiel's PA of course, Gabriel of all people, Zachariah who had been called in and Cain who was representing Castiel and who had probably put half a dozen police officers on stress leave in the process of getting Castiel and Gadreel cut loose.  Naomi was on Skype when Castiel and Gadreel walked in the door.  

"I'm sorry I am not able to attend in person," Naomi said. "But Balthazar is my nephew and I do not want my role as a potential witness to become an issue.   However, Castiel and Gadreel, I want you to know that our entire family will rally behind you both and devote all our resources to finding Balthazar's killer.  And then they will know not to mess with the Engels." 

Gadreel looked confused.  "I thought Gabriel was an Engel?"

"Namoi's first husband was an Engel, Gabriel is her nephew by marriage as is, was, Balthazar.  Gabriel and Balthazar are cousins," Abaddon explained quietly to Gadreel.  

"Oh, but Castiel was worried that Gabriel and Balthazar were conducting an affair," Gadreel said with shock.  

Gabriel pulled a face at Castiel.  "I might be on the kinky side but that's incest." 

"It's not as far fetched as it sounds, maybe you guys thought you'd look hot together or something," Castiel stopped his rant.  "Okay, I was jealous of your closeness, I didn't really think that.  I mean I know now that Balthazar never wanted to leave me at the altar so to speak.  I..." 

"You should sit down," Naomi said on the laptop. "Castiel, I know your heart is broken for Balthazar, even if you don't show it.  Anyone who saw the two of you together know of your deep friendship."

"Naomi, I'm not as good as all that, I'm in love with Gadreel," Castiel said in a gust.  

"I heard," Naomi nodded blandly.  "I'm not saying you were in love with Balthazar.  He was in love with you, for him to propose to you was nothing anyone in the family was excepting.  He was the consummate playboy with an excellent head for Human Rights law and ethics but completely unwilling to commit when it came to sex and relationships.  You changed him so profoundly Castiel.  We were all ready to bless your union because even though it was somewhat clear that you weren't as in love with Balthazar as he was with you, we thought the two of you would have been happy together. Well, if Dean Winchester didn't run out of the kitchen screaming 'I object' during the ceremony."

Everyone snorted at that and Gadreel just looked confused again. 

"Dean Winchester the hot guy with the green eyes?" Charlie chirped in, talking to no one in particular.  "Oh yeah I know who you're talking about, I saw him drop by the office one time with some homemade pie thing for Castiel.  Oh yeah, he's totally into you Cas like oh my god so obvious." 

Castiel huffed in disbelief.  

"Honey, not the right time to ship your boss and his friend," Abaddon smirked.  

Charlie shrugged her shoulders cutely and turned back to the computer.  "So Naomi, what should Cas and Gadreel do now to get out of the big bad murder frame job?" 

"Leave Boston, hide away from the cameras.  Our firm will give the detectives all the assistance they need and gather evidence.  We will have three objectives.  First to consolidate the alibi for Castiel and Gadreel.  Hannah will do a time line and cross reference it to what the police know about time of death.  Charlie and Abaddon will do all fact gathering necessary to prove they weren't in the same location as Balthazar.  Gabriel will go through Balthazar's calendar and all of his personal effects to determine when the killer got control of him.  Secondly, Cain and I will be looking into the previous conviction and subsequent overturning of Gadreel's death sentence, something about that trial and retrial doesn't sit right with me.  Castiel, we need Sam Winchester on this.  Thirdly, the firm will do everything to keep you and Gadreel safe and out of the media.  Our firm is a reputable one and as old as Boston city itself almost but the less negative publicity we can get the better.  Do you have somewhere safe you can go?  I am sure there is an Engel holiday house somewhere you can use ...  Zachariah will be our detour when you are ready to take off."

"I'm going to go down there and give a salacious open interview about the elicit homosexual romance between Boston's most eligible and it's most wanted," Zachariah notched his smile up to impossibly smarmy. 

"That's somewhat ingenious," Castiel said with some disbelief.  "Of course they will buy that, they know I loathe you and you've always been jealous of me. In a perverted stalkery fashion."

"Yeah, I'm gonna let it slip I've got the hots for your rabid fanboy Dean Winchester too, he's something of a celebrity chef on the pay tv channels," Zachariah laughed.  "Make it extra juicy for the journalists.  Threeway love triangle featuring three hot young buckeroos." 

"Urgh," Castiel half snorted half gagged.  "That is ridiculous but it will probably work.  Leave Dean out of it though, he doesn't need the publicity and Sam too.  Naomi, I don't think Sam should be called back early from vacation for this.  I just don't want the Winchesters anywhere near this mess."

"I agree with Castiel, that is, if my opinion has any weight," Gadreel added. 

"Oh sweetheart," Naomi said on the computer.  "You are just heartbreaking, I can see the attraction Castiel." 

"Naomi, I appreciate everything you are doing," Castiel said. 

"Oh shut up kiddo," Naomi winked at Castiel.  "Don't display any genuine emotion, you are still a lawyer." 

Abaddon and Gabriel packed and stowed a suitcase for them.  Cain manned the wheel of the four wheel drive and told Castiel and Gadreel to buckle in tight. 

"He served driving a humvee," Castiel said casually. 

Cain just chortled and floored it. 

* * * 

Cain was not happy with Castiel's decision to head to Collinsfall in Maine.  It was in his opinion too big to keep secure and too far out of the state area for the police to be content with.  

"I know but the Winchesters' are only half an hour away and I know this area well.  Only the most persistent journalist will track us there and I'll just scare them off with a defamation suit," Castiel had pleaded with Cain.  "Look, physically Gadreel will be able to protect us against any single assailant.  After a few days, I'll have to come back to Boston, I can't not be here Cain, you know I have other people to think about in a time like this.  I have to make sure everyone I love is safe." 

At Gadreel's inquiring glance, Castiel sighed.  "You included." 

"I pledge to keep you safe," Gadreel said.  "But are you sure I am not the killer?"  

Cain whipped his head around and gave Castiel a grave look as if to say 'how messed up in the head is he really?'. 

"Do you experience murderous impulses?  Outbursts of anger?  Lost time?" 

Castiel's smile disappeared when Gadreel whispered "Just the last one." 

Gadreel swallowed.  "In prison I used to sleep walk, the guards had to keep me in solitary overnight because I occasionally tried to strangle my cellmates." 

"Oh, you didn't quite mention that when we slept together."  Castiel said. 

Cain snorted. 

"It only happens when the cellmate is very tall and large physically because my foster father Alastair..." 

"He was a big man," Cain nodded, he was familiar with the case and had been appalled when he reviewed the files that someone like Alastair had been allowed to foster children but then again the worst abusers knew how to manipulate their way to their victims.  

"Yes, so if you were Cain's size I would likely attack you if I have a sleep walking episode."

"I'll make sure not to sleep with Gadreel then," Cain said dead pan. 

"I have no plans to ..." 

"Oh shoosh darling," Castiel embraced Gadreel.  "Just, okay, I get it." 

"I had a nightmare that night you slept with Dean." 

Cain arched an eyebrow eloquently. 

"It wasn't like that!" Castiel called out to Cain in the driver's seat.  "I can hear you silently judging me."

"What you do in the privacy of your bedroom is none of my business boy," Cain said.  "But I must say I am impressed. Gadreel and Dean Winchester?" 

Castiel glared at Cain. The older man smirked and kept driving. 

"Okay," Castiel ran his hands soothingly up and down Gadreel's arms.  "What happened?" 

"I dreamt you were dead, tied up and displayed like ..." 

"Like Balthazar?" 

"Exactly the same way," Gadreel whimpered.  "When I woke up it was light and I was in my bed all dressed.  Is it possible that it wasn't a dream?  That I had killed Balthazar somehow and have a false memory of you being the body?" 

"Gadreel, the apartment building has a security cameras throughout the common areas, we can find out.  I don't think you left the building," Castiel said. "Even if you did leave the chances of you doing something like that seem far fetched.  How would you control Balthazar in that state?  And what about all the other days he was missing, you were definitely with me, I know that." 

"You are not the best alibi for Gadreel though, given your relationship," Cain interjected. "If you two were married you could probably plead spousal rights not to testify." 

Castiel gave Cain a significant look. 

"Hey, no one is telling you to get engaged again to the prime suspect mid investigation for the murder of your deceased finance. Not the kind of advice I can ethically give." 

"You are so delicate about feelings, Cain." Castiel said dryly. 

"I try." 

Gadreel drifted off to the sound of the two men talking over the facts of the case and various legal wrangling they planned to do. 

When Gadreel woke again the car had stopped.  They were in the middle of a forest.  

"Home sweet home," Castiel said.  

Gadreel got out of the car and looked up at what appeared to be a modestly sized castle.  

"It's just a country house," Castiel said sheepishly. 

"Very atmospheric," Cain said deadpan as he waved goodbye and drove off.  "No one's getting murdered in a place like this." 

* * *


	3. Chain

Much to Castiel's consternation, Sam and Dean were knocking on their door within thirty minutes of their arrival.

Dean held a huge basket covered with a clean tea towel, Sam had two duffles crisscrossed around his torso and a sleeping bag in each hand.

"Before you say anything," Dean proffered a mollifying hand up before Castiel could bite his head off. "These are freshly baked and made from hand-churned butter. And we are only doing this for your safety."

"Dean, this is completely unnecessary, Gadreel and I ..." But Castiel was cut off the second Dean set the muffin basket down on the kitchen counter and enveloped him into a back breaking hug.

Gadreel watched as Castiel grew still, his bluster muted and his hands moved over Dean's broad back of their own volition, tightening as he returned the embrace. He buried his face in Dean's chest for a long minute, all Gadreel could see was the subtle heaving of Castiel's shoulders and Dean's fingers as they smoothed over Castiel's ruffled hair.

Something slithered in the pit of Gadreel's stomach. He walked out of the kitchen to scan the rest of the house. It was huge and vacant. A lot of the doors were locked, the wing they were in was only a third of the entire building and the most modern part of it. The kitchen looked ordinary and new, the living room cosy and upstairs there were two bedrooms. The bedroom on the left was neat and orderly, with clean white sheets laid out on a spacious four poster bed and little by way of decoration. The bedroom on the right was the opposite. It contained a large bed with two well used pillows. The walls were covered in posters and photographs. The entire section above one half of the bedhead were photographs of Castiel. He looked very young and handsome in the images, often sitting astride a horse or sitting topless in a vintage sailing boat. Gadreel touched his fingers to Castiel's face, he could not believe how beautiful this man was who wanted him and had allowed himself to be touched, kissed and tasted so intimately by Gadreel.

Sudden resolve solidified in Gadreel, changing his whole posture and demeanour. If Castiel thought him worthy then he would follow the man to the end of the world. It would not matter if Dean was here and if Dean and Castiel shared some profound bond, brotherly or otherwise. Gadreel would be whatever Castiel needed.

He looked up to see Sam hovering in the doorway.

"Hey," he said, stepping in hesitantly with two unfolded sleeping bags in his hand. "Um, Cas sleeps next door when he comes this house."

"I did guess that.  Did you and Dean stay in this room after I was imprisoned?"

"Yeah, it's pretty nice huh, better than any hostel we've ever been in. It beats youth hostels and homeless shelters. Not as nice as what we used to have when mum and dad was around before the fire according to Dean, but I don't remember honestly.  The photos make it homely."

Gadreel smiled tentatively. "I'm glad you boys were looked after in some way when I was gone. I'm sorry I wasn't there for you all those years.  Even though I feel like I missed out a lot on getting to know you and Dean through your formative years, I do think of you as my only remaining family.  Like brothers, almost."

"Oh come on Gadreel you don't have to apologise for that. Yeah Dean and I looked up to you, saw you as our protector for a while there but you know we are not related by blood and you got no responsibility for anything we do."

The strange phrasing made Gadreel uneasy but Sam was moving onto a different topic.

<p><p>

"Look at Dean and his shrine to Cas, God he is so obsessed. Look I'm sorry I freaked out on you when I found out you and Cas were getting together so to speak. It's just... I couldn't tell you before when we were on the phone but Dean has held a torch for Cas since forever. I mean he's too chicken shit to actually tell Cas about it and I don't think Cas would reciprocate in any case because of the whole guardian thing, but Dean just goes crazy when Cas is with anyone. He didn't get along with Balthazar and to be honest he wasn't real happy Cas had agreed to marry him. I mean you know on the surface it's all gourmet de gustation food tasting at the restaurant and harpists and florists and enthusiasm about the wedding but it was killing Dean on the inside."

"Would Dean have not wanted the wedding to go ahead?" Gadreel asked, the answer was as he had expected.

"Oh he would be livid if he knew I told you but yeah, he was over the moon that Balthazar disappeared and to be honest he's not too sad that he's dead even."

"I don't know what to make of that." Nor could Gadreel understand why Sam was telling him this.

Sam lowered his head and stared at the ground, his face turning into something harsh and pale that was too sharp featured and bright eyed. He walked to the door and closed it noiselessly. Gadreel found himself tensing as he sometimes did in prison when he sensed threat but this was Sam. Baby faced, innocent, wonderful Sam who worked for ten long years to become a lawyer and free Gadreel. He had nothing to fear from Sam, right?

Sam advanced on Gadreel, his chest heaving with emotion. Then he dropped onto the bed and began to cry.

"I think Dean killed Balthazar, I think he did it. He told me he was going out on the town to a bar and then he was gone for three long days. I didn't know where he was, he wasn't answering my calls. I asked Charlie the IT specialist to look into the police data on the case on her personal laptop and the time of death she gave me matches the period when Dean went off the radar."

"What?" Gadreel was reeling from this news. He understood suddenly Sam's strange behaviour, he was worried sick about his brother and torn by guilt. "Have you told Castiel about your suspicions? Have you told the police?"

"No, I can't tell the cops on Dean!" Sam covered his face with his hands, pulling at his own hair in frustration. "I don't know how to tell Castiel either and I'm shit scared and I'm so glad I finally worked up the nerves to tell you!"

Gadreel suspected that the reason Sam chose him to confide in was because ... "You told me because I am a killer too. You think I would empathise with Dean and help him."

A dejected nod was Gadreel's answer. "And I wanted to warn you. I'm scared Dean's gonna hurt you."

"He wouldn't."

"He would and he has hurt people before for coming between him and Cas."

Then Sam pulled up his shirt and showed Gadreel the scar on the side of his ribs. "Hunting knife, I was 21. He found us in the garage. Said I seduced Cas, that Cas was like a father to us that it was wrong. Incestuous.  We were just making out, we were consensual adults."

Gadreel furrowed his brows. "What... You are not related!"

"I know that, Cas knows that, but in Dean's head we are." Sam touched the puckering scar. "You think I didn't try to explain that to him? You think Cas didn't? He's put Cas on a pedestal and sure Cas kind of sees Dean as a brother, he sees me differently. It was always Dean protecting me from Alastair, I didn't get traumatised as much as he did. I feel fine. I got a good education and a good job. I'm pretty much normal. But Dean is sick in the head."

The door banged open and Dean stood there with Castiel at his side. Gadreel blinked he hadn't registered all the knocking, he was so lost in Sam's story.  Castiel's hair was awry and Dean's hands were fisted.  They were both staring at Sam.

"You okay Zeke?" Dean asked. 

Just as Castiel said. "Step away from Sam.  Whatever he's told you, don't believe it."

"Sammy we gotta go, we're not staying the night anymore," Dean said. "You are not feeling well again."

"I feel fine, Dean.  Real clear in the head, everything makes sense for a change," Sam fingered his scar, his eyes half lidded. "I was just telling Gadreel about how you killed Balthazar to keep Cas to yourself."

"Yeah, all right Sam. Come on."

Castiel had tears in his eyes and Gadreel knew immediately that something was very wrong with Sam. Everything Sam had just said ran through his head. "No Sam, it's not Dean who's obsessed with Castiel."

Gadreel went up to the bed and pulled aside the pillow and immediately visible was the name "Sam Winchester" carved into the bed frame beneath the shrine to Cas.

Castiel looked like he wanted a hole to open in the earth and swallow him. "I thought Sam got better, we got so much therapy and I really didn't think he would hurt anyone."

"No Dean, don't say that," Sam shot up to his full length. "You're lying! You always lie about this. The bed's been moved! I don't want Cas. You're the one dying to fuck him. You're the one that touches yourself at night calling his name. You're the filthy incestuous pervert wanting to fuck your own brother. You'd probably fuck me if I let you. You'd shove your big dick inside me and moan 'Sammy come for me now'."

Sam's growing erection tented his pants grotesquely. With a grunt he shoved his hand into his pants and began masturbating violently. Gadreel backed so far away from him that his back was against the wall.

"I need your help, he's having an episode," Castiel hissed and came forward with Dean.

They both tackled Sam at the same moment, throwing him backwards onto the bed and climbing on top of him to pin him down with their weight.

"Just how I like it, Dean, Cas," Sam's voice trembled. "I think I'm gonna..."

His prolonged groan as he came sounded like a dying animal. Castiel bit his lips and produced a pair of handcuffs while Dean pushed Sam's hands together behind his back. The cuffs clicked into place and Sam rutted the bed to milk out the last of his pleasure while the two men were still on top of him.

Both Castiel and Dean got as far away from Sam as was possible in the smallish room as soon as he was secured. Dean looked at Gadreel with despair in his eyes.

"You gonna call the cops on us Zeke?"

Gadreel looked at Castiel, whose face was unusually pallid, his mouth bleeding from the force with which he had bit his own lips during the struggle. Castiel shook his head so Gadreel echoed the movement.

"Alright, so I'll take Sammy now and I'll keep him chained up. Score some downers and get the mania under control again. Then I'll figure something, I don't know, we'll go to Mexico."

"Dean," Castiel said, his voice grave. "You don't need to give your life to save Sam. He needs medical attention and a lot of therapy but he would have a fair chance at an insanity plea. He's clearly not well."

"I'm not watching another one of my brothers sit in jail," Dean's conviction was unwavering. "I went through ten years of that with Zeke, I can't again Cas, please don't make me."

"Dean, a life on the road on the run is not what I want for you and Sam," Castiel pleaded. "Sam's dangerous too, you think you can control him day and night on your own?"

"I can't think that far ahead," Dean's face was wet with tears. "All I know is he's my brother and I'll do anything to help him."

"What you are doing is going to kill him and you."

"So be it!" Dean said, grabbing hold of Sam by the elbow to yank him up from the bed. "Impala, now."

Boneless and calm after his orgasm, Sam complied, leaning into Dean and snuffling into his neck. "You smell so good Dean, like apple pie and vanilla ice cream."

He blinked when he walked past Gadreel. "Hey I thought you were in jail."

Then when he went by Castiel he said a cheerful 'Later Cas' as if nothing had happened.

Gadreel felt all the hair on the back of his neck stand up as Sam turned his head and looked him in the eyes and said. "See you in the morning."

That night Gadreel told Castiel that he could not face tying him up to sleep.

"I just don't want any more weirdness," Gadreel said. "There is iniquity everywhere I look."

Castiel blinked, his face looking hurt. "Okay. You can sleep in my bed and I'll stay in Dean and Sam's room."

Gadreel fell into the big empty bed and didn't think he would sleep at all but sleep took him as soon as his head hit the pillow.

* * *

Gadreel woke to the sound of birds chirping and a lingering vision of Dean looking at him. His handsome face sleek and smooth, skin silky and eyes black to the brim. Gadreel knew he was experiencing night terrors again but was thankful that he could not remember the entire contents of his dreams beyond Dean with demonic eyes.

Castiel was in the kitchen drinking a cup of coffee and eating an apple muffin scone. The bright golden muffin in his hand was drenched in fresh butter. Castiel looked terrible, his eyes were dull and rimmed by bruise like rings. Gadreel swallowed down his guilt, he should have helped Castiel but instead he had been too shaken by the sight of Sam's true face.

"I don't think I can stay here with you this evening," Castiel said by way of good morning. "It's not working out."

Gadreel lowered his head.

"Sam will stabilise and maybe I can talk Dean into getting him some help. He's not high on the suspect list so I doubt the police will be smart enough to figure it out anytime soon. So I think it's best if I go back to Boston, do what I can to misdirect those two very sharp detectives. You don't really need to do anything for the farm, the deer herd looks after itself pretty much and we do have someone looking after the grounds. You think you'll be okay here?"

Gadreel shook his head miserably.  "I want to kiss you still."

The words came out of Gadreel's mouth as if someone else spoke them. Once they did he couldn't stop. "I want to kiss you and make love to you Castiel. I want to hold you and be with you day and night. It is not feasible or likely but the truth is I love you. Have fallen for you. In the short time we have been together I have seen nothing but goodness in you."

Castiel tilted his head and gulped, a teary smile on his lips. "You thought Sam was good too. You're too naive for this world."

"I know you think you're cursed like Rowena said. Everyone you love breaks your heart but I won't Castiel. I promise I will take care of you heart and soul."

Castiel smiled, his eyes soft, then he swallowed the last of the muffin.  Dusted his hands and pulled on his coat.

Gadreel stood, unkissed, as he watched Castiel head to this car and drive off.

* * *

The first week of Castiel's absence, Gadreel expected him back every hour. He wasn't completely uncontactable. He had left a phone for Gadreel to use. He sent a couple of messages talking about mundane things like where to keep any mail for him and that Dean would send him food from the restaurant.

The first person Gadreel saw at the house came three days after Castiel's departure. A young Asian man arrived at the door, arms loaded with bags. He introduced himself as Kevin Tran, Dean's sous chef. Kevin stayed for a cup of coffee and Gadreel could see him looking curiously around the house. He blushed when he saw Gadreel looking at him skeptically. "Dean told me to spy on you, check you are living okay. And yeah, maybe Cas called and asked me to do the same. You should really just skype them, they are worried about you."

"Worried about me? What about Sam?" Gadreel asked.

"What about Sam?" Kevin sounded very confused. "Isn't he back at Boston working ridiculously long hours?"

Gadreel guessed that Kevin didn't know about Sam's mental state. Gadreel would never had believed it if he hadn't seen it with his own eyes. The strange thought occurred to him that maybe it was some sort of horrifyingly terrible prank but what he saw was no joke.

Kevin left after a quick chat and Gadreel was alone again for another three days. The second grocery delivery was done by a tall handsome Southerner called Benny Lafitte. He was head chef at Dean's restaurant and a very nice man. He spoke easily and was excellent company in the whole hour during which he stayed to speak with Gadreel. When Benny was gone Gadreel felt more lonely than ever.

He began to find small jobs to do on the house and started rounds around the surrounding acres each morning and evening. The farm was large, Gadreel wasn't really sure what the boundaries of it were. He started patching a few things up, a hole in the gutter here, a crack in a wall there with whatever he could find in the shed. Gadreel felt a little trapped most days because he didn't have any means of transportation. There was no car and he missed his motorbike more than any other material possession. He wondered what had happened to it. The last time he saw the bike it was left ou side a storage shed with the key in the ignition because the police had to move him away from Balthazar's body.

Gadreel wondered if Sam would come back, would try to kill him too, to keep him away from Castiel. Not that there would be much of a point, he hadn't even seen Castiel in person in over a week. Their phone calls were brief and impersonal though Castiel did sound like he wanted to say something to Gadreel but couldn't.

What hurt the most was the the fact that he told Castiel he loved him and Castiel still left. 

It took two weeks before Gadreel met the groundskeeper. He had been dreaming fitfully of a horned and black eyed Dean all night, in the end he gave up and decided to go for a run at 5 in the morning. It was a hazardous undertaking because the trees were blanketed by mist and what little moonlight was left barely lit up the surroundings. GadreeL ran far past where he would normally turn back, until he came upon a shed he had never seen before. He a heard a voice talking and heavy breathing and stopped to investigate.

A lone figure was standing at the shed's door. Wearing a large khaki jacket, jeans and combat boots. A wicked blade in hand. As Gadreel approached the figure remained small as if far away. It was only when he got close enough to speak that the person looked up.

 

<p>

<p>

"Are you an angel?" It was a woman, Gadreel realised in shock. A beautiful pale faced woman with dark red hair and large blue eyes. "I heard your wings. I am Annael, your kindred."

Gadreel walked towards her, there was a glow about her face that made him like her instantly. She was so disarming even though the knife in her hand was large and gleaming in the dark.

"Your wings are broken, you are fallen like Castiel my brother."

"You're Castiel's sister?" Gadreel asked though he could tell by those incredible blue eyes that she must be related to him. "Anna? He did send me a text about bumping into you eventually."

"Yes. We are all brothers and sisters."

Her words sent a cold shiver down Gadreel's spine, his mind flashed to Sam, the soulless charm of his face when he was in the throes of his passion for Castiel and Dean.

"You okay?" Gadreel asked. "You talk alot about angels."

She smiled sweetly at that, her faraway blue eyes focusing on him for a moment. "I can hear them singing to me in my head."

Gadreel sighed inwardly. No wonder Castiel was as messed up as he was. He just had so much to deal with between Sam and Anna.

"I would like to know what you plan to do with that knife," Gadreel pointed at her hand.

"I am trimming the horses' hooves," she said in a perfectly ordinary manner.

Turns out that despite her talk of angels Anna was a very capable groundskeeper. She looked after all the livestock and the entire farm, it was over fifty acres. The best thing about meeting Anna was that she showed him where the horses were and the riding gear. Even gave him a little riding lesson. What was odd was that her visions of angels came and went and in between those moments she was perfectly professional at her job.

Two weeks after Castiel returned to Boston, he facetimed Gadreel. Gadreel looked at the man he loved on the tiny screen. Castiel looked older than he did a fortnight ago.

"Are you sleeping?" Gadreel asked.

"Do I not look like I've been getting plenty of beauty sleep?" Castiel smirked and just like that Gadreel felt the kick in his guts, the old want and need for Castiel.

"I've hardly seen worse looking junkies when they first hit prison," Gadreel answered. "You should come back to the farm."

Come back to me, was what was ringing through Gadreel's head, like the heavenly chorus that Anna described when they rode together around the grounds. Aside from the whole convinced he's an angel thing, Anna was fast becoming a wonderful fixture in Gadreel's lonely days. She didn't take meals with him in the house, he didn't know where she went at night, but presumably there was a house for her somewhere on the grounds. She was secretive and furtive but being with her reminded Gadreel a little of being with Castiel and what little comfort he could find he sought.

Winter fast approached and Gadreel got his first visit from Dean about two months after the incident with Sam. Dean stood on the front porch, carton full of fresh produce in his hand, shifting nervously from foot to foot.

"Hey, Zeke," he said when Gadreel opened the door. Gadreel motioned to Dean to come inside but Dean hesitated.

"Nah I can't stay long, Sam's in the car."

Mention of Sam made Gadreel shiver. He looked up past Dean's shoulder to see Sam sitting in the passenger seat, headphones in, asleep.

"I drugged him just in case he starts again when he sees you," Dean said in a small voice.

"Dean, this is not an ideal situation for anyone," Gadreel said gravely.

"Look he's fine usually, like he doesn't even say anything about it. Cas is back in Boston and single. You're here. He doesn't talk about either of you. It's like he didn't remember you came out of prison."

"That's not right." Gadreel said. "How much drugs are you giving him? Where do you get it from."

"It's nothing bad, just stuff I cooked up myself."

"Oh my God you are manufacturing?" Gadreel was shocked.

"No just herbal things and a lot of whisky."

"Dean."

"I know it's a mess but he's almost like old Sam again. Without you around he's kind of gone dormant. If I just keep an eye on him he won't be able to get out and hurt you or Cas or anyone for that matter."

"Dean, have you not heard of Frankenstein, Mr Hyde and Dr Jerkyll, The Hulk?"

"I'm making up my mind about what to do, okay, Zeke, back off."

"Dean, an innocent man died," Gadreel's tone was harsh. "I know you love Sam but do you love Castiel? How long do you think before Sam escalates to hurt Castiel?"

"No one will hurt Cas, least of all Sam!" Dean said, shoving the box of groceries into Gadreel's hand. "This was a mistake, I came to apologise but all you want to do is freaking help. You selfless bastard!"

Gadreel choked on a dry laugh.

"I can only knock him out for sure for like ten minutes, so I gotta go. Don't want the drive through the farm to trigger him." Dean mumbled.

He grabbed Gadreel's hand and held it, box balancing precariously on his hip. Then he let go and left the food at Gadreel's feet. Dean gave a silent little salute as the Impala pulled away, zombie Sam drooling into his own t-shirt.

Gadreel looked up and saw a speck of a shadow on the far off hill. It was Anna, he guessed, watching Dean leave from a very far distance.

* * *

The dead fawn was left on Gadreel's door step three days later. It's limbs bent and tied with strands of witch hazel. The animal's throat was cut and the skin over it's chest removed. Over the bareflesh a tiny dead snake was sown into the flesh over the heart of the fawn. Gadreel took photographs on his phone and texted them to Dectective Hanscum. His cell rang within seconds.

"You got someone with ya right now?"

"No."

"I want you to walk East in the direction of the creek, two clicks and you'll see the oak trees."

"I was going to meet Anna for lunch, I am fine I assure you."

"Just do it angelcake. And don't hang up, fit guy like you should only take you 5 minutes to make it there."

"I could do it in three if I run."

"No, don't, look like you are just walking. He could be watching you still."

Gadreel went quiet. He moved swiftly and accurately towards the truffle forest. As he got nearer to the oaks his nose wrinkled at the smell. The pig pen was situated in the middle of the large copse of deciduous trees. He could see quite well here because the branches were bare. The stench hit him like a physical blow and the sound of pigs gorging on their morning feed sickened him.

When he opened the door to the pigpen he froze, unprepared at the sight before him.

Castiel sat on a small metal bed, Mac in his lap, a mug of coffee on his bedside. He clinked as he stood up, one hand still had a pair of cuffs dangling from the wrist. There were no pigs in sight.

"You find loverboy?" Donna said into his ear. "Put him on the phone, I need to verify his status."

"Hey Donna," Castiel picked up the cell from Gadreel's numb fingers and spoke in that casual fluid voice he had. The quiet hoarse drawl of it made Gadreel's chest ache. "I'm fine, Gadreel looks okay too. Well, a bit thinner than last I saw. Yeah of course I'll facetime you."

Castiel called Donna back and her concerned face looked a little strange.

"I'm peroxiding my facial hair, this pretty face can be high maintenance," she said. "Yeah, like the briefing we gave you, swipe the camera 360 degrees, show me the perimeters of the shelter are clear. Good. Now show me Gadreel front and back and then show me you."

Once Donna had verified that they were not calling her under duress she relaxed a little. Even wiped the bleach from her face though there was strip of red agitated skin on her upper lip.

"Good, at least you are together but you are not out of the woods yet. The animal torture is his signature. The Federal agents who worked the scene of the Crowleys' death found a dog cat thing just like that. It never came up in the trial for Gadreel because it was a detail suppressed by court order. We wondered why Gadreel never confessed to that part but I think we all know the real answer is that he isn't the Serpent Slaughterer. Has never been the killer."

Gadreel gasped, sinking down into the thin mattress Castiel had been using in the safe house. "I did do it, I remember it like it was yesterday."

"It's a false memory," Castiel said, sitting down next to Gadreel. "He had you and he tied you up and he did things to you. Made you watch what he did to your foster parents. Held you and comforted you, whispered in your ears the things he wanted you to think. You were probably drugged and you were likely there for weeks."

"No I was, I confessed, I ..." Gadreel could not for the life of him order the events around his family's slaying.

"I know sweetheart, I know," Castiel wrapped his arms around Gadreel. "He did the same thing to me. When I became a principal of Collins Milton Krushnic, I was taken hostage one night working late at the office. I was alone and he jumped me in the car park. Injected me in the neck. Then he took me to a place, it was very dark and he tied me up. Hands above my head, legs splayed. He held me for days. I could only drink or eat when he held me. Sleep in his arms. And when he wasn't holding me bad things happened."

"Castiel was missing for two weeks. We were surprised to find him alive dumped in front of a regional hospital five states over. He doesn't remember how he got there or any distinguishing features of the assailant. Guy's very good."

"He didn't kill when you were in prison because the world, yourself included, thought you were the Serpent Slaughterer. He was dormant. As soon as Sam Winchester found the new evidence to free you, we were contacted by our Federal counterparts to set up a contingency plan around your and Castiel's safety. It was no accident that the Winchesters could not come and pick you up from prison. We organised it that way because our Behavioural Analysis Experts had profiled Sam Winchester from the beginning. We just needed more evidence to bring to trial against him."

Gadreel looked up at Castiel, his mouth agape. "You knew all of this all along?"

Castiel nodded, his face unreadable.

"Did you know that Balthazar..."

"I didn't. I had no idea he would be hurt. The police still don't know how on earth Sam managed it. He was being watched the whole time."

Gadreel walked up to Castiel, stared down into his eyes, his hands fisted by his sides lashed out and seized Castiel by the collar of his shirt.

"You stupid ... Brave ... Idiot," Gadreel smashed his mouth against Castiel's. His lips a soft and pleasurable counterpoint to his flustered words.

"Oh hey guys we need to maintain visual contact until help arrives so maybe don't... Jody, Jodes get over here, it's a Code Violet."

Gadreel was lost in the taste of Castiel. In the thought that Castiel had stayed in Maine the whole time, in this awful safe house, had never left him alone, had always and will always be there for him. Gadreel kissed him deep and wet and Castiel laid back on the bed, hands thrown over his head. Gadreel fumbled in the bedside table drawer till he found the key and carefully unlocked and slipped off the cuffs.

"You don't need those," he said to Castiel, as certain as the waves coming onto the shore, as persistent and permanent. "You will not need those again."

Castiel nodded, his eyes wet and spilling over when Gadreel kissed his marked wrists. He moaned when Gadreel's tongue traced over the calloused skin, coarse from years of being bound by metal every night. Gadreel slipped down Castiel's body, his mouth reverent and hot. He opened Castiel's shirt button by button, licking each inch of skin exposed. Until his tongue was tasting Castiel intimately and Castiel bucked up, suddenly frantic as Gadreel took him into his mouth.

"Oh come on, we gotta keep an eye on them," Donna could be heard arguing just before Jody terminated their call.

Castiel huffed out a strangled laugh as Gadreel sucked hard on his cock, his jaws opening wide to gently scoop Castiel's testicles into the warm cavern of his mouth to nestle tightly against his shaft. Castiel snapped his hips up when Gadreel rolled his tongue, he sobbed when Gadreel released his cock and balls and pushed his legs open wide. Gadreel was hunting for the taste of Castiel, for the concentrated musk on his skin, licking past the down covering Castiel's ass and diving in deep with the tip of his tongue. He paused there, patient, rigid until his mouth filled with saliva which he carefully spat into Castiel's opening. Sitting back on his ankles, Gadreel released himself from his pants and spat into the palm of his hands. Wetting his cock as much as he could, he poised himself at Castiel's opening.

"I've had a GP check up and I didn't have any partners in prison," Gadreel started to say.

"Don't even," Castiel panted. "You are killing me."

Gadreel pushed forward, his eyes falling shut at the intimacy of sensitive skin rubbing together. Castiel felt lava hot inside and he shivered at the coolness of the saliva lubricating Gadreel. When Gadreel slid all the way in Castiel shuddered. His hands grasped the metal bars of the bed-frame in a death grip and he jerked his hips rhythmically in a figure eight motion, sighing each time he rotated himself hard onto Gadreel's cock. Gadreel watched Castiel massage his sizeable genitals with his ass, marvelling at the way Castiel gripped onto the thickened length of the shaft and clasped the head hard with each arch of his back.

"Gadreel," Castiel gasped. "I need more."

Gadreel grabbed both of Castiel's fists in his, squeezing hard as he pushed himself forward balls deep into Castiel's ass. The whole bed frame gave a metallic whine with the force of it and Castiel looked like he was blissing out. The eager look on Castiel's face kept Gadreel going, pushing hard and mercilessly into his lover like the movement of continents, like the rising of the earth from the sea, like every unimaginably powerful metaphor in existence. Gadreel fucked Castiel soundly, burning away the hurt and lost years like wild fire, until Castiel was nothing but nerves for the pummelling and a heartbeat hovering on the brink of explosion.

"Going to come in you, going to put my juice in you, going to mark you," Gadreel said nonsensically even as Castiel chanted 'please' over and over.

Gadreel bit into Castiel's collar bone as he ejaculated hard into him. His whole body seized like it was going through some kind of reboot and he stubbornly fucked through the feeling of being cut loose from his own skin. Castiel was writhing beneath him, cursing and screaming and shaking and yelling "Fuck, fuck, fuck." His shoulder had gone crimson where he had been bitten and his come sprayed out hard from his cock, flying up past his stomach. A strand of it went as far up as his nipples where it met with a small trail of blood, the cream mingling with the red trickle until Gadreel bent down and lapped it up.

They were only half dressed when the knock came at the door.

"That was pretty fast," Castiel said as he let their rescuer in.

Dean's eyes shifted between Castiel and Gadreel, taking in their dishevelled state, his nostril twitching as he scented the sex in the small confines of the cabin. "Is this a bad time? I can, um, actually I can't come back later. The detectives called me to come and get you guys, says Gadreel's received some kind of threat?"

"Where's Sam?" Castiel asked urgently.

"I don't know, sleeping? I checked on him this morning, he was asleep in his room and his door was still locked form the outside."

"He was here this morning," Gadreel said. "He left me an animal carcass."

"It can't have been Sam," Dean said desperately. "I've been keeping an eye on him day and night. I just don't believe he would get away and I mean that thing was pretty elaborate, to find a snake in the middle of Winter, that's a hell of a a lot of effort."

Castiel was looking down at Gadreel's phone. "Yeah, sure was. No, you're right, it couldn't be Sam."

"Why not?" Gadreel asked, confused.

Castiel brought up the photograph of the fawn carcass. "Because Donna doesn't know about any snake being sewn to the deer. And it's not in this image. So how does Dean know that?"

Dean smiled, shrugging. "Intuition? Dumb luck?"

Gadreel took a step forward to put himself between Dean and Castiel. "Dean, get out of this room, right now."

"But it's cold outside," Dean was grinning blatantly now. "Come on, buddy, that's no way to treat a long time friend."

"I will overpower you," Gadreel said softly. "I have always been able to take you down, physically."

"But not mentally, you're not by any means imaginative," Dean called out over his shoulder. "Sammy! Jig's up, in you come."

Sam was holding a gun and a hunting knife. Dean reached into his back, under his plaid shirt, and took out the same. They stood shoulder to shoulder in perfect synchronisation.

"Impala, please," Dean smirked.

"Why did you kill the Crowleys?" Gadreel asked.

"Money," Castiel said before Dean could answer. "The Crowleys had named the Winchester boys their secondary beneficiaries after you. Only the attorney who helped draft their will knew, oh and his paralegal who did the typing, Hannah. But that's not the important thing. Why did you two kill Meg and Ruby?"

"Ruby was a sneaky snoop and Meg had a big mouth that just won't quit," Sam said bitterly.

"Ruby had quite the crush on Sammy here and liked to spy on him. I'm afraid she saw some compromising things happening in the Impala. The kind of thing that made it necessary for us to get rid of Mom and Dad so many years ago.  Same for Bobby."

Dean grunted. "Come on Sam, less villainous exposition, more hurry the fuck up. Cops are on their way."

"But Dean, I wanna gloat, I wanna tell them, please." Sam turned puppy dog eyes on Dean and Dean relented.

"Be a good boy and get on with the job, I'll fuck you senseless in front of them when we get to the safe house."

"You're no fun," Sam said petulantly, grabbing Gadreel by the jacket and tying his wrists before leading him out.

"You disgust me," Dean said to Castiel as he restrained him. "You let that jailbird come in you? Bareback? I was a little worried I won't be able to kill you.  Just like last time when I kept you for weeks and couldn't quite do the deed.  But you know what, we're breaking up."

Castiel rolled his eyes. "We weren't together Dean. Ever."

The blow across his face made Castiel's brain fuzz out.

"We're always together. From the moment you walked out of the woods and saved my fucking twisted life I was yours and you mine. I tried to fight it Cas, I tried so fucking hard. We were supposed to go to your office, confirm that Alastair had really convinced Crowley to leave everything to us poor stray homeless boys. But Fergus Crowley fucked us over. He went back behind Alastair's back and changed it, made Gadreel the primary beneficiary. All the times I sucked up to Alastair, all the pandering to his gross big ego, all for nothing because Fergus had a secret conscience!"

Dean was still ranting when the door opened. "Alright Sammy, I'm on my way."

"Fergus Crowley was a man of principal, he lived in the muck and mire but he looked after his own!"  a woman's voice said from the door.

Castiel was dazzled by the fire in the woman's eyes as she levelled her weapon at Dean. Her porcelain skin glowing, her petite frame barring the door.

"You killed my son and I, Rowena MacLeod, will now kill you."

* * *

Dean was fast. Faster and stronger than anyone could imagine. He barged right into Rowena fearless and brutal. Her arms snapped up and she fired off one short into the air before his knife sunk into her gut. She whimpered and slid to the floor.

Dean kicked open the door and was shocked to see that Sam wasn't waiting for him. Sam was running full pelt into the woods while Anna was standing poised with a shot gun firing at his back. Dean tried to shoot Anna but Castiel threw himself into Dean. Gadreel was the first person to stand back up and he came towards Dean, wrathful and awesome.  Anna had cut him loose.

He pinned Dean to the ground and disarmed him. Sam in the distance stopped and turned around to stare. Then he let out a bellowing shout and came running back. This time Anna's aim was true and Sam went down like a tonne of bricks as the shot exploded into his chest.

"Sammy!" Dean's scream lingered in the air long after Sam dropped to his knees.

* * *

Gadreel looked at the people surrounding them. So many familiar faces. The BAU specialists arrived first and they were , to his surprise, people he knew. Charlie the IT Specialist, Abaddon Castiel's PA and Anna who had played the part of Castiel's muddled up step-sister. Turns out Charlie was an Analyst, Anna the Lead Profiler and Abaddon her right hand. The second group of agents were FBI, Kevin and Benny who had been undercover for even longer than the women, keeping watch over Sam. Their only mistake had been not factoring in Dean. Something Cain, the Chief Investigator on the case regretted deeply. They had never expected Dean to go after Balthazar in a fit of jealousy. It was out of character with what they now knew was a deeply codependent incestuous relationship between Sam and Dean. The last piece of the puzzle that completed their unravelling personalities.

"We were perfectly safe," Castiel said to Gadreel in the ambulance. "I would have told you if I thought there was any real danger to you. We needed you to play your part."

Gadreel looked out the window. The sky was that mid-winter sunny blue, nary a cloud in sight. He looked at it through the glass and continued looking even when Castiel slipped his hand in Gadreel's.

"The sky looks bigger," Gadreel said. "I don't feel like I'm in prison anymore."

Castiel nodded, resting his head on Gadreel's shoulder. "Same here." 

* * *


	4. Epilogue

Dean looked out his window.  The sky was red, the room a washed out pink, the flesh and skin on the back of his hands dark blood red.  The visual hallucination was probably a side effect of all the drugs they pumped into him when he resisted being separated from Sam.  He hadn't seen Sam for three days.  He supposed if he confessed and cooperated they would pretend that he could spend time with Sam again.  This was the part he dreaded the most about prison, not the death penalty or the drudgery of wasting his time on earth, it was not having the freedom to be with Sam. 

Still, being free to be with Sam was what led him here in the first place.  It was always, could always only be Sam.

Except then it wasn't.  Except when, he couldn't even recall exactly when really.  What number was it?  What number was Cas supposed to have, what number kill was he going to be?  Dean's thoughts were disorderly and it was hard to think.

The plan to kill Cas had been there before they'd even met.  They were lost in the woods and there was that big old house, so grand.  Dean was dying he was sure and the only thing that made him hang on was Sam's big ugly tears, running down his pretty face.   He couldn't abandon Sam by giving up, not since they'd been through so much together. 

Killing mom had been the worst.  She had known, from day dot she had known.  Always tried to get them to sleep in separate beds, didn't want them to share showers, wouldn't let Dean cuddle Sam when he was crying. Said a boy was supposed to want his mother not his brother.  And she had been right but she had been in the way.  It was actually Sam who did it, gun, point blank. 

Then dad would have known because Mary had been trying to convince him to send them to therapy.  Though Dean thought he wasn't broken, that there was nothing ungodly about loving his Sammy.  So they knocked him out with the Impala.  Started the fire.  Sam came up with the story of the yellow eyed man.  Said it sounded so implausible that surely the police would think they were too traumatised to question further.  It worked.  Dean had thought they were free.  Could just jump in the car and drive off, get shitty jobs together, spend their lives together.  If only the world would fucking leave them alone.

The world wouldn't leave them alone.  Bobby Singer had showed.  Some ex-Marine buddy of dad's who had been left with care of John and Mary's children via their will.  Dean and Sam were smarter this time around, kept things under wraps for almost a year.  Or maybe Bobby suspected but chose to say nothing.  He sure liked to talk about John and Mary and how they would have been willing to sacrifice anything for their children.  Kept talking about family being thicker than blood.  In a kind of drunken rambling way. 

Family and blood. Dean tasted Sam's blood once.  They cut themselves with a kitchen knife and licked each other's palms, it had been kind of disgusting.  Though he could have sworn Sam's blood was a little sweet.  They weren't having sex with each other or anything.  They were just soul mates.  Dean looked around sometimes, at pretty girls and hot guys.  Gadreel was kind of Dean's type, so tall, so strong.  Then Sam came and told Dean that he was saving himself for Dean.  That they were gonna turn 18 and drive to Canada and get married and have sex as husbands for the first time.  It was so strangely romantic a notion that Dean was spellbound by the idea.  So they had killed their parents and were secretly in love but damnit if their incest wasn't going to take place during an unforgettable honeymoon.  They were gonna get roses and doves and the marriage ceremony. They were gonna hide their blood relationship, they barely looked alike anymore anyway, be one of those gay couples everyone smiled at and thought was so sweet.  It was gonna be fine. 

Then Alastair happened.  He'd smelled the virginity on them and he was a psycho violent bastard.  So he kinda sniffed out Dean and Sam's psycho violent hearts from miles off.  He had plans for them.  Wanted to mould them, shape them into some ridiculous big bad prowler of the night.  Dean had laughed off his offer but he'd seen the way Alastair looked at Sam.  Like he was gonna try and take Sam away as a victim or a protege or a meal.  

So Dean lost his head.  He was jealous.  Would Sam want Alastair, an older more vicious carnal and sinful version of young Dean Winchester?  Would he lose Sam to the darkness Alastair had to offer?  Not that Dean was light and sunshine, but his own vileness was cosier, better for Sam. 

Sam had shown Dean his faithfulness by helping him take down Alastair.  Sam liked to research, plot his crimes whereas Dean was more of a spur of the moment kind of killer.  The last piece fell into place when Ruby and Meg snuck around and saw Sam and Dean kissing in the woods.  It had been their first kiss, just a rather chaste peck on the lips, practice for when they were gonna get married.  Totally wasn't making out.  Ruby had squealed and Meg looked pleased like she had power over them via some dirty little secret.  Dean knew though there was nothing dirty about kissing Sammy, how dare they see it that way.  So they killed the girls and made it look nasty because they were dirty minded and needed to be taught better manners.  Setting it up so that Gadreel found them, making sure Alastair and Crowley were already drugged something proper when Gadreel saw the scene.  It had been a cinch.  Gadreel had looked like the angel he was when he unleashed his violence upon his foster fathers.  And Sammy watched it all, tying hard not to let his laughter hiss out from behind his hands in their little closet hiding spot.  Adorable little serpent. 

Dean had questioned why they were going to so much trouble to set up Gadreel, why not just kill him?  Then Sammy had beamed, so proud and so gorgeous.  There was money, a tonne of it.  And through some misleading statements Sammy had convinced Alastair to leave it to them but Crowley had held out and insisted on that being conditional on Gadreel and Ruby and Meg also getting a share.  If Gadreel was alive but imprisoned it was all theirs.  It was all too complicated for Dean's liking but freedom was expensive and Sammy deserved to enjoy it in style. 

Still before they could profit from Alastair and Crowley's death, it was important to put some distance between themselves and the crime scene.  So they drove and drove.   Some damage Alastair had done to Dean in the final struggle got infected and they just didn't have the cash flow to get Dean seen to.  So they ended up in the apple orchard, so Dean's life got ruined.

The woods was Dean's end and his new beginning.  The forest, where Castiel met them.  Sam had always glowed in Dean's eyes.  A lovely holy illumination on his face as if lit up by a halo.  Sam was special, the only one in the entire universe who had that irrepressible light.  Or so Dean thought. Imagine Dean's surprise when Castiel shone like a football stadium floodlight.  Castiel's soul called to Dean's the second they met.  He was so bright Dean feared he would be obliterated if they so much as shook hands.  And there was nothing the darkness in Dean wanted more than to be burned up by that light.  Maybe it was just his septic fever but Dean knew he was in trouble the moment they met Cas.

Cas took them in, Cas got Dean on the mend.  And though Dean still loved Sam and Sam loved Dean they both turned to Cas in wonder and no small amount of fear.  They fell in love with him, his kindness, his warmth.  They changed their minds.  Didn't go to Canada, didn't get married, told Cas they were brothers.  For some reason they had harboured the hope that Cas would be okay with their love for each other even if they were related.  That somehow Cas was different.

Then Sam got into college and was on his way to be a lawyer just like Cas.  Sam was the most happy and confident that Dean had ever seen him.  And he had been young and in love and maybe a little spoiled by Dean.  Sam had said, point blank, whilst sailing "We love you, Cas".

The sails were white, bright white in the sun, Cas had grinned.  "Love you guys too."

He was so handsome, so relaxed, they loved sailing together the three of them. Like there was no one in the world except their trio. A perfect triangle of mutual care and affection.

"You know I got a big family but no one I've ever been as close to as you two," Cas had said, his eyes so happy.  "Dean, Sam, I really think of you guys as my family.  I don't care if it's weird or people judge, whatever, you guys are like my little brothers, I love you."

And Dean's heart had sunk.  Sam took some convincing but Dean explained to him how other people, people unlike them, basically didn't ever feel brotherly affection the way they did.  Cas wasn't interested in them that way.  Cas wasn't their saviour, wasn't the one way out of a life of drifting and secrecy they had hoped for.  Cas had to go. 

Dean worked the hunt for Cas on his own.  Soloing it for the first time.  He'd been fine with the execution of the snatch but the rest had been sloppy.   He had felt the urge to play with Cas that he had never experienced before.  Had wanted to hear sweet words from him, kiss him, fuck him.  Suck him off in the dark.  Caress him with ropes.  Kiss him as he croaked out "Please". 

Dean had Cas for a week and every morning he got up to kill him and failed.  He made Cas fuck him in the dark, then drugged him and dumped him to be found.  He knows that Cas never quite got over it, heard the rumours about Cas needing to be bound at night to sleep. Felt a little thrill when he looked at Cas' worn wrists. Dean was a monster through and through. The kind of creature that muddled up maiming and mating. The sort of man who needed to leave his mark mind, body and soul. Where others might have been redeemed by love, Dean was only made worst still. Too much heart and not a scrap of soul.

* * *

Sam was masturbating furiously in his cell, in the midst of a fantasy of him and Dean taking turns with Cas, when the door creaked open. The detectives looked at him stoney faced then left. A tall figure loomed over him, cuffs in hands.

"Wasn't expecting you?" Sam panted. "What you gonna do?"

"I'm taking you to your brother," said Gadreel.

* * *

The chair in the interrogation room was steel and riveted to the ground. Dean was cuffed to the chair, his hands locked at his back.

"Hello Dean," Castiel said, crossing his legs at the ankles and his arms over his chest.

"That's some guarded body language, Cas, it makes me sad."

"Can you feel sad?" Castiel asked sharply.

Dean shrugged. "Don't hurt my feelings, you wanna rub the wound a little you go right ahead. It's nice not pretending."

"I don't think you are not lying now," Castiel sighed. "I'm disappointed in you Dean."

"Oh here we go, I'm not your little bro Cas, not your son, not your problem," Dean rolled his eyes. "Sheesh, psycho killer here."

"True, but nonetheless, I'm deeply disappointed in you."

Dean dropped eyes to his own lap and sighed. "I'm tuning you out, Cas."

"I would have been your's, if you'd ever asked," Castiel said at the end of a long sigh.

Dean's eyes snapped back up, his brows knotted. "Come off it, you'd want me with my incest kink and hunting habit?"

"None of my partners ever got to me the way you did, when we met. I stood there thinking: this man, I have to help this man, he is everything that would make my world worth living in. It was love at first sight."

"I know I'm pretty."

"It wasn't your face," Castiel said through gritted teeth. "It was like, I knew you before we'd ever met. The way you smell, the way you move, the way you talk. Everything like remembering someone you loved from another life. The love of all your other lives rolled up together and presented to you in the flesh."

Dean's mouth gaped. Those were his thoughts, that was how he felt, like Castiel was saying everything Dean couldn't.

"Why couldn't you have been one of those narcissistic killers, the kind that just takes what they want," Castiel said. "You took something beautiful offered to you and trapped it inside you, let it twist you up. You destroyed our love."

Dean felt it, bitterness and cold, seeping out from the pit of his stomach and his chest aching, aching like he was something weak. He gritted his teeth.

"Now who's the delusional one, Cas?" Dean managed to say. Still the spiralling feeling grew, maybe this was Castiel's revenge, clever Cas.

"You never asked because you are afraid, because you hate yourself more than even how much you hate the world and all the people that got in your way," Castiel said, almost blandly. "Sam was right, I would have accepted you two, I would have seen past that."

That was definitely not a sob that sounded in the room. It was certainly not crawling out of Dean's mouth.

"What I can't see past is the fact that you killed Balthazar. He wasn't just my lover, he was a friend," Castiel said as he stood up.

As if on queue the door opened and Dean stared. Sam had his head covered by a jacket but it was undoubtedly him. Gadreel sat Sam in the chair across from Dean, cuffed his hands behind his back, his ankles to the chair legs. They sat across a table at each other, Dean had never hated a piece of furniture this much in his whole life.

"You killed my sisters and Fergus," Gadreel said softly. "Took away ten years of my life. I thought of you both as my brothers."

Dean smirked to hide his fear, Castiel was passing a loaded syringe to Gadreel. Castiel was the kindest man alive but he had this iron will and fire within and messing with him was not without consequences.

"This will put Sam to sleep, for good," Castiel said.

Dean struggled, started hollering and screaming for the detectives, for guards. When he ran out of breath Castiel said calmly "No one's coming for you two."

Dean kicked and thrashed, he dislocated both his shoulders and all the while Sam was nodding at him.

"Please, me first, I can't watch, I can't, no," Dean said hoarsely. "Have mercy Cas, me first."

Castiel shook his head, tears in his eyes. "Can't be that easy Dean."

Sam was nodding vigorously in agreement. "Dean, don't make me watch you die, please, it's better this way, for me. I love you."

"I love you," said Dean, defeated.

The shot went into Sam's neck quick and easy and Dean supposed he should be grateful. This day was gonna come anyway, at least he was there to see Sam's tiny satisfied smile, his almost drunken slur of Dean's name.

When Sam slumped in his chair Dean looked over at Castiel.

"My turn, Cas."

Castiel took out the second shot, prepped it but he paused when he stepped closer to Dean.

"Don't be a tease, Cas," Dean murmured.

The ten seconds or so Castiel spent staring at Dean, memorising his face, made Dean terrified. What if Castiel let him live, what if he had to go on ten more years, or longer, without Sam.

When Castiel finally raised his right hand and rested it on Dean's left shoulder, bracing himself into position, Dean smiled.

"Last request?" Dean puckered his lips.

Castiel took his mouth hungrily, kissed Dean with teeth and tongue and then sweetly, long lingering caresses of lips. Kissed him like he loved him. Then the sting of the needle and Cas mouthing something against his numbing skin. Something about love.

* * *

"What if those shots were real?" Castiel asked Gadreel as they walked out of the police station. "Would you still have given it to Sam?"

"Would you have given it Dean?" Gadreel replied by way of a question.

Castiel turned away from him but Gadreel was long limbed and fast. He braced his arms around Castiel's shoulders.

"I do not have enough hatred in me to do so and neither do you," Gadreel said. "We've made them feel pain, the way we felt pain and I think they will eventually understand the wrongness of what they did. For now, for us, this is our time."

Castiel shook his head, his eyes wet. "Gadreel, I'm still messed up. I've spent ten years with Dean and Sam, they're under my skin, in my heart, I can't be free of them. So long as they live, I'm connected to them."

"I know," Gadreel nodded. "So?"

Castiel blinked rapidly. His face clearing and something like peace settling over his features. He extended his hand to Gadreel and it was taken, into a warm safe hold.

* * *

Sam was sitting in the library. Everything was in order and this afternoon a new batch was going to arrive from a charity and there would be books in there that he hasn't read a hundred times yet.

Dean was snoring in the couch in a patch of sunlight. His face freckling under the bright rays. Sam leaned over him and pulled down the blinds. Then when he was sure no one was looking, he leaned down and kissed the silver speckling in Dean's hair.

There was some paper on his desk waiting for Sam, so he sat down and grabbed his pen.

_  
_

 

_"Dear Zeke and Cas,_

_Dean's good. I'm good. Better than we deserve to be. I'm writing to you like I did last year and the year before. On the anniversary of our mom's death. To say that though we are not worth this forgiveness, we are grateful for the mercy you both showed us. Not the not killing us part, the speaking to the judge and the prison board part that allowed us to be confined together. Dean says I'm being a dumbass writing to you guys, that we are the last people on earth you would want to hear from. But I kind of have to. I hope you two are together still. Hope everything is going well at the law firm. That you have got a nice big house with a pool and cool cars and kids and puppies. Hope everything good in life happens to you. Hope we haven't ruined things for you completely._

_For what it's worth._

_Dean and Sam."_

 

 

When Dean woke up he gave a soft snort when he read the letter that Sam pushed under his nose to sign. Before Sam could seal the envelope Dean snatched it up. He raced to a shelf and pulled out a slim paperback. Sam frowned when Dean ripped out a page and stuffed it into the envelope. Licked it shut and sauntered away to post it at the commissary.

Sam opened the broken book and looked at the place where the page was missing. He could still see half the poem on the left hand side page. It was one he knew by heart and he was sure the lines Dean had ripped out were those:

 

_  
_

O dreadful is the check--intense the agony--  
When the ear begins to hear, and the eye begins to see;  
When the pulse begins to throb--the brain to think again--  
The soul to feel the flesh, and the flesh to feel the chain.

The End.

**Author's Note:**

> The Destiel relationship in this fic involves past non-con. Including Dean kidnapping Castiel and having non-consensual pentrative sex, bottom Dean.
> 
> The Wincest relationship is portrayed in a dsrk manner (as much as the destiel relationship). Though there is no non-con there. 
> 
> The quoted lines at the end of the fic are from Emily Bronte's poem The Prisoner


End file.
